Destiny of the Forsaken
by AznChibi
Summary: Sequel to Ninja Taboo: She had so many people to protect, so many secrets to hide, but with one boy needing a mother, her lover slipping away, and the village in danger, will she sacrifice everything? GenmaXOC
1. Troublemaker

Welcome to Destiny of the Forsaken, sequel to Ninja Taboo

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Obviously, I don't own Naruto, but I do own Riku, and I'm using Daisuke with the permission of Neverlookbacksamurai.

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_**Dedicated to Neverlookbacksamurai, my awesome co-author.**_

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"Daisuke! How many times do I have to tell you?! Don't touch the oven when the pie is baking!"

The jonin's hand searched around the kitchen for a rag, his keen ears picking up snickering from the side. He wiped the gooey dough off his silver hair and mask, feeling the heat from the oven seeping through the cloth on his skin. Finally clearing his vision of the half-baked pie, he followed the quiet laughter, arriving at the closet in the hall.

Inside the dark room that would make anyone feel claustrophobic sat the next Naruto. The new village troublemaker. His arm was wrapped around a large ceramic mixing bowl, his free hand grabbing a handful of the leftover dough and kneading it with his fingers. A moment later, the dough ball suddenly disappeared, taken into one of the two mouths that occupied most of his palms.

"Just add a little chakra…" The young voice muttered over the slurping of the small tongue swirling the mixture together in its mouth sloppily as the boy concentrated.

"There you are!" yelled the masked voice with the heavy tone of proud discovery.

The squeaky door abruptly flew open, letting in the sunlight from through the open windows around the apartment and revealed the glaring eye of Hatake Kakashi. There was a moment of awkward silence between the two until the laughter of the genin broke through.

"I…I can't believe…you fell for it…!" He forced out the spots in his laughter that should've been for breathing.

The anger in Kakashi's eye quickly vanished as he watched the curled up figure of his foster son, reluctantly remembering the woman who used to laugh the exact same way. There was so much of her Kakashi could see within the boy, like the rich brunette hair and the piercing ice-blue eyes. Sadly, there were also things that weren't as desired, such as the gold streaks among his hair, the sharp border of his eyes and of course, the mouths that were embedded in his hands. The symbol of the man who took her away…

Fiercely shaking out of his thoughts, he bent down to pick up the mixing bowl and Daisuke by the arm. Daisuke was slowly taking in his much needed air, wiping away tears as quiet leftover laughter randomly came out. They both went back into the kitchen, Daisuke taking a seat at the dining table and Kakashi retrieving the cooled, charred pie from its deathly oven. The jonin let out a frustrated sigh as he tossed the burnt food into the garbage bin, the sounds catching Daisuke's attention. He leaned against the sink edge and thought over his word choice before turning to face the boy.

"Daisuke… when are you grow up?" his voice low and serious, just barely audible through his black mask. "What do you think your mother would say?"

The forbidden phrase.

A low groan escaped his throat as Daisuke looked over at his father and stood up, his chair scraping back against the tiled floor violently.

"You always say that, but I've never even met her. You say that she's on a mission, but why hasn't she even tried to contact me at least? Why can't you tell me her name?!" he half-yelled, the strain of self control eminent.

Kakashi blinked a few times, definitely caught off guard with the young one's exclaim and his hard eyes. His own exposed eye searched the walls of the kitchen for an answer.

As if to save the jonin from having to make up yet another story to distract Daisuke, the doorbell rang throughout the room. Daisuke made a quick dash for the door, escaping the ridiculously uncomfortable atmosphere of the argument. Unlocking the dead bolt, he pulled it open quickly, his eyes falling on the wave of black hair that belonged to a hunched over girl.

"Izumi?"

Her head jerked up as if she was just in a trance and her cheeks plunged into a faint red. There was the sharp crinkling coming from behind her back where her arms were, her whole body fidgeting.

"Um…D-Daisuke…I w-was wondering…"

She looked as if she would faint at anytime; of course that was how she felt as well. Her hands shot out from her back and pushed a worn pink envelope into his face.

Daisuke leaned back to avoid the tight fists digging into his nose and blinked a few times, slowly taking in what was happening. He scratched the back of his head, his own cheeks tingeing with pink. He took it from her shaking hands and watched her bolt away the place the moment the paper left her possessions. He read his name written on the front in tiny kanji, feeling a weird feeling in his stomach until the envelope suddenly disappeared from before him.

"Man, she must've been pretty nervous if she wrinkled it this badly."

His heart nearly leaped out of his throat when he heard the family voice, his blush deepening madly. Already knowing who it was, he snatched the letter from her hand and quickly stuffed it into his pants' pocket, giving a slight glare to the laughing jonin.

"Hey sensei." He muttered, wishing hard for his blush and embarrassment to subside before he would let everyone see his face again, though he did glance from the corner his eye to see the couple standing there with white plastic bags in their hands, the man with a warm smile, the woman, her usual grin. Daisuke couldn't help but give a smile of his own, stepping to the side to give them enough room.

"Hey." They both said at the same time as they stepped in and made their way to the kitchen.

The instant they came into Kakashi's view, he instantly regretted not cleaning off all the dough when he saw the sudden change in the woman's face.

"Cut me some slack you guys." he groaned, his voice weary and discouraged.

The white haired woman was already biting her lower lip as she dug her face into the crook of her partner's neck, her shoulders shaking with the pressure of holding in her laugh. She hung onto him with an arm over his shoulder and around his neck, trying hard to regain her usual composure.

"Come on Riku, be nice." The man teased with a playful tone, partially hiding his own delight.

She took in a deep breath and straightened up; turning around to meet Kakashi's masked face once more. By then, he had already cleaned himself pretty well with the rag on the counter, a few white smudges here and there.

"But Genma, I had so many nice things to say to him." She pouted with amusement dancing in her onyx eyes.

"I'm sure you did." Genma said, sarcasm dripping heavily from every word.

Riku smiled apologetically to her silver haired friend, though she knew she had been forgiven already from the look in his eyes. She draped her haori over one of the chairs as she set the bags they had brought on the table and opened one of them, only to see another set of hands dig in before her. She looked up to see a hungry looking Daisuke and his pincer fingers ripping open a box of colorful dango.

He gave a short call of "Itadakimasu!" and proceeded to take one of the balls off the bamboo skewer, though it was instantly swiped from his hand. He bit into thin air and had a confused face as he searched for it, only to see the food in the fingers of his mentor.

"Did I say you could have some?"

He knew she was kidding from her smile, though he was never really sure with her personality.

"Sensei, may I _please_ have some?" he said as his eyes widened into gleaming, adorable puppy dog eyes.

Riku chuckled and removed one of the balls from the stick carefully with her teeth before giving it back to him.

"That's better."

He laughed a little before filling his mouth with the rest of the treats on the stick.

"Anything happen?" Kakashi's muffled voice asked as the two leaned against the wall, watching the teacher and apprentice.

"Lots of missions, lots of paperwork, no time for anything else." Genma crossed his arms across his chest, looking up at the ceiling as if watching his thoughts come together in the air. Kakashi gave him a glance and a sigh.

"So you haven't asked yet, have you?"

Genma let out a sigh of his own, filled to the brim with frustration and disappointment. "It's so hard!" he said in a hard whisper, hearing Kakashi's quiet chuckle.

"You've been thinking about this for _how long_?"

"I know, I know!"

"Just ask her already."

Genma gaze stared on at the profile of the woman chatting with her student, glancing down at her left ring finger. He rubbed the back of his neck and let out what seemed like the twentieth sigh of the day. He made his way over to the small dining table and stood behind Riku, crossing his arms around her neck. He bent down and gave her a kiss on her neck, resting his chin on her shoulder.

Riku chuckled when he saw a light blush streak Daisuke's face, his eyes quickly averting away.

"Hey, Daisuke."

The boy hesitantly looked over, seeing the glint in the kunoichi's eyes.

Without notice, her hand found the side of Genma's face and she turned his head towards her, giving him a full kiss on the lips. When she pulled away, there was a large smile on his face and blush twenty shades deeper on Daisuke's face. She stifled a laugh and stuck a stick of dango in Genma's mouth, finishing her own pack of food before slipping out of his arms and standing up.

"Alright, now that I've had my fun, ready to go Daisuke?"

"Where you guys going?" Kakashi asked, taking a seat in one of the four chairs at the table and grabbing a pack of dango for himself.

"Training, be back later!" Daisuke called out, already at the door, pulling on his ninja sandals and out of the apartment by the time he finished his sentence.

Riku grabbed her haori off the chair and stood there, gazing at the open door where Daisuke was jogging in place, impatient for his teacher.

"Riku?"

The addressed turned and was instantly caught by the piercing eyes of Kakashi.

"Be careful today…he's a little…"

She nodded, his gaze holding her just a little longer as she lingered there as if telling her, 'Just wait a bit more before telling him. Please.'

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10/8/08: Yes, this was released before Ninja Taboo was done, BUT I refuse to let this story sit in my harddrive when its all written out! So think of chapter one as a foreshadowing for NT. 'K?


	2. Fashion

I couldn't help it. I had to post _something_.

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"Is everyone present?" echoed the fuzzy voice of a faint projectile that stood perched on one of the tall pillars arranged in a circle around the dark room. Its eyes scanned the many other cloaked images, ignoring the two unoccupied spaces in the back.

"Well, the ones that are still alive anyway." snarled the maniacal voice of a man, his slitted eyes looking towards the man perched on the tallest pillar. He gave a sinister laugh but quickly stopped when the leader cleared his throat.

"Tobi, Kisame, are you in position?"

"Yes." The muffled voice answered.

The wooden clacks of geta shoes sounded against the metal stairs of the apartment leading down to the ground level, opposite the padding of ninja shoes. Riku swung the black haori onto her shoulders, slipping her arms into the otherwise white sleeves. As she adjusted it, Daisuke was already at the bottom of stairs, his head tilted in curiosity. "Sensei, how come you don't dress like the other jonin?"

Riku looked over the genin's outfit, a white shirt layered with a navy jacket with matching long pants and black gloves, then down at herself. When she thought about it, she didn't look anything like a jonin, or a ninja for that matter. In all honesty, she felt more like a samurai with her chest wrapped in bandages under her arms while showing a little of her midriff, her tan skirt held together at one point on her right hip along with a narrow black belt, the tattered haori, and as if to add to the effect, her wooden geta sandals. Well, the lack of the usual village headband didn't really help with the whole ninja image either. Perhaps she was a ninja undercover? Who knows? "I guess because my fighting style doesn't really work well with the standard uniform. Plus, I like my shoes." She kicked his butt for emphasis, seeing him jump forward a step to avoid a possible second attack from her foot.

Daisuke didn't pester his teacher any further, since he had a feeling he wasn't going to get anymore out of her at the moment. It was pretty normal though, the feeling. All these years he's felt an emptiness, as if there was a huge secret everyone was keeping from him. If only he knew what it was, he'd probably die happy.

As they climbed up a small hill along a narrow, barely visible path through the shrubbery, the ground slowly leveled out into an opening covered in grass with a circle of trees that blocked the view of the village and everything around them. They both went to their respective edges of the field and revealed their weapons. Daisuke pulled out two new black kunais, gripping one in each hand as he looked on at Riku. Usually, he would fight her while she only defended with her bare hands, but he smiled when he saw her bend down and slam her hand onto the ground with a shout of '"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

In a large puff of smoke, two sheathed katanas appeared in her hands, one white, one black. She slipped them into her belt on her left side and drew the two blades with a satisfying shink of metal.

"If you can force me to have to catch my breath, I'll buy you ramen."

"Sounds good." Daisuke said before vanishing with a blurred afterimage, appearing behind Riku moments after. His kunai was brought down with all his strength, only to come in hard contact with the edge of the katana that was swung back with such speed he didn't even see it coming. He pushed off the blade and soared into the air while his hands formed a sign and shouted, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

"You're gonna try that again?" Riku asked in a disappointed disbelief. She watched as the twenty clones fell down towards her, all bearing kunais ready to stab her where possible. She took a quick scan at the mass of bodies and her eyes instantly focused on the one off to the left whose face looked like the one most concentrated. With a strong jump, she dodged the blades of all the others and tackled the targeted one onto the ground below, hearing the many poofs of clones dissipating.

"Ugh! How do you do that?!" Daisuke groaned as he tried to squirm his way out from under his teacher's grasp and katanas. He finally gave up, especially with her inhuman strength, and dropped his arms to the side, looking up at her big grin with a pout.

"It's easy, squirt. All your clones are always wrong. There was one with a uni brow." She chuckled and helped him up with a quick tug of his arm then brushed her skirt free of dust and dirt. As Daisuke was patting his butt, she was staring off into the trees out of one eye, boring with a penetrating gaze into the veil of leaves.

"Kiyotake Riku in sight." Two of the projections began distorting and faded away, leaving more vacant spots on the pillars in the room. As if they needed to lose more people. Outside the dark room of their headquarters, two cloaked men sat in a tree on the hill that the two Konoha ninjas were training, masking their chakra with the utmost skill.  
"I get the woman. I've been waiting to finish what I started before." The blue skinned man growled out through his shark like teeth. A large sly grin stretched across his face, pushing his gills back further on his cheeks.

"Fine, fine, not like it really matters. Just don't die." The masked man whispered through the mask, an intricate eye peering through the one hole. He watched the two, not moving any part of his body; even his breathing was very shallow.

"Seems like our abilities to suppress our chakra isn't enough to elude her. No wonder she's one of the top in our bingo books…" Tobi let out a sigh and motioned forward with two fingers to Kisame, the two of them dropping down from the branch they were perched on.

"Ready for round two?" Daisuke readied his kunais and looked up at Riku, seeing the sharp focus of her eyes. His own followed her line of sight into the trees and tilted his head in confusion, trying hard to make out what she was staring at so intently. Just as he was about to give up, the two Akatsuki members stepped out of the greenery so casually they appeared as if they were taking an afternoon walk. Daisuke looked them over and examined their appearances for a few moments, wondering who they were until their pictures flashed into his mind. He had read through their profiles in Kakashi's bingo book once and distinctly remembered how strong they were.

Riku could see how Daisuke's face distorted with fear and anxiety and pushed him behind her where he gripped the back of her haori. She tightened her grip on her katanas, her muscles tense and ready for a split-second reaction if they decided to try anything.

"My, Riku-san, long time no see."

Riku stared straight into his revealed sharingan eye, knowing very well that he was smiling like the devil under that orange mask of his. As she opened her mouth to give a comeback, her eyes widened when she realized that the Kisame she hated so much had vanished from beside the much shorter Tobi. Her words were caught in her throat while her mind beat herself up for such an amateur mistake when she finally sensed the presence of the enemy behind her. She had been so intent on keeping Tobi at bay and away from Daisuke that she didn't think about her guard behind her.

"Shit, Dais---!" She felt a huge blow to the stomach when she turned back to check on her student, all the air in her lungs forced out. Her swords fell to the ground, followed by her limp body to her knees while her eyes took in the swirling scene of Kisame with an unconscious Daisuke over his shoulder and Tobi before her with a fist extended out from the punch. Bowing her head, she took in as much air as she could, but none of it felt like it filled her deprived lungs, while her body automatically bent forward and pain shot through her abdomen. "Wh…what do you...want this time…?" she forced out in between severe coughs.

"You know what we want." Kisame snickered and disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving Tobi alone with Riku. "And you can only imagine what we'd do to cute little Daisuke if you don't participate." He said in a high mocking tone, especially at the word 'cute'.

"You…bastard…" Riku was slowly gasping in her air, feeling little relief in her chest as she did. Her expression was grim and glaring, but Tobi could see the defeat reflected clearly in her onyx pupils. With a sinister chuckle he lowered his hand down and pinched a pressure point on her neck.

She blacked out.

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Alright, this is as far as I can post wihtout revealing Ninja Taboo, so this is like foreshadowing?


	3. Seal

**Dedicated to Mat for all the piggy-back rides. Happy Valentine's day everyone!  
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_'What is it you wish, Master Sasori?'_

_'Why am I remembering that now?_' She questioned in her mind, not opening her eyes as she tried to grasp the meaning behind the point of thinking of the question. In all honesty, it disgusted her. The fact that she even asked it disgusted her in every aspect. But she didn't hate it when she asked it, did she? With the deep breath she took in every time she woke up, she was started with a jolt. There was a smell. It was familiar, but judging by the way her nose was wrinkling along with her eyebrows, she knew it wasn't something she wanted to smell.

Slowly, her eyes opened up to a dim room, not too large by the looks of it, with a lot of furniture. She rolled over onto her side, feeling the dust that arose from the old futon under her irritate her nose even further. Scanning her surroundings, she could make out a table with a chair and piles and piles of thin shavings around it on the ground, large boards against the wall, two western style beds, and a door to the side. She rolled to her other side and met the peaceful sleeping face of Daisuke on a futon not unlike her's, his breathing even and slow.

Her tired mind slowly pieced all the information she had gathered, the events from before clicking in perfectly. She sat up, wincing from a dull throbbing pain she felt at the bottom of her rib cage, and stood up with the help of the footboard on one of the beds. Her gaze fell upon the boards leaned to the side while her feet automatically brought her over. She ran her fingers over the rough wood and touched her forehead to the material, taking in the strong scent that was mixed in with the odor of old clay in the rest of the room. She turned and leaned back against the board, sliding down against it onto the dirty floor. _'I love you…'_ A scoff escaped and she muttered, "I can't believe I told him that…"

"Told who what?" The stone slab in the side wall slid over to reveal a door sized opening where Kisame stepped through. He gave her his usual maniacal grin and stood there as the exit out of the room sealed itself. His gleaming yellow eyes glanced down at the sleeping figure of Daisuke then up at Riku who was standing up slowly with her hands pushed against the wood.

"You know, there was something we didn't get to finish the last time you were here…" He pulled his sword, Samehada, off his back and removed the wrappings, dropping them on the ground. "Shall we continue?" He read her glaring stare and tense body language and lowered Samehada down to Daisuke's face, the many scales coming painfully close to his skin. "I assume you know what'll happen if you don't do as I say."

Riku's eyes widened at the sight of the shredding scales near Daisuke and took in a deep breath and out sharply through her nose. She pushed off the board with her arms and lunged at him with her fist drawn back, her target: his jaw. With as much force as she could muster in her state, she threw the punch but only heard a dull thud when it hit the palm of the enemy.

"Not so scary with no chakra, eh?" Kisame laughed as his hand wrapped around her fist and pushed her back as his sword swung straight up at her. She hit the workbench and fell to the ground, her eyes closed tight, expecting the pain of the scales shredding her skin. When she hit the ground, she took a ragged breath when she didn't feel anything at all and opened her eyes where she could see small, shredded pieces of white cloth falling before her. She looked down and her voice completely shut off when she saw the bandages that was formally wrapped around her chest slip down to reveal a large black seal on her stomach, her mind making all of it happen excruciatingly slow. She grabbed the two flap edges of her haori and pulled them together, drawing up her knees protectively.

"You like the chakra seal?" Kisame sneered as he set his sword in the corner and approached her slowly. He savored the distressed look on Riku's face and his fingers wrapped around her neck, pulling her up and throwing her onto the bed.

Riku curled up with her back to him as her hands clutching her haori closed hard enough for her knuckles to turn white. Her heart pace intensified as she felt a fear unlike any she's ever had to go through. Hearing no sounds coming from behind her, she peeked back and her stomach churned at the sight of Kisame pulling open his black and red cloak.

"N-no…no! No! No!" As he drew closer to her with a sinister smile, she attempted to push herself back with her feet. He pounced on her like the animal he was and pinned her shoulders down against the mattress. She could hear a low growl coming from the back of his throat over her erratic breathing and her heart pounding in her ears. With a gasp, she felt his tongue run down from her jaw to her neck, her breathing stopping completely and her teeth grinding together. "Please don't…"

"KISAME!" The stone door slammed as it was forcefully pushed open to the side. The orange-haired leader seemed to glide into the room and jerked Kisame off and against the wall. "We do not treat our guests in such a way." He turned to look down at Riku with his Samsara eyes, his pierced expression stoic. "I apologize for his rudeness. Please rest here until I require your services." He nodded to her once, "Kisame." And the two of them left, the shark-man looking very reluctant as he grabbed his sword.

Riku took her first breath in what was like hours to her and stared at the once again sealed door. She finally came back to her senses and sat up, her head bowing down onto her drawn up knees her shoulders trembled with every wave of fear surging through. With much effort she was able unfurl her fingers and pull out a fresh bandage roll from her hip pouch, noting that all her rarely used kunai were gone, and began to wrap it around her chest quickly. She was starting to doubt why she didn't wear a shirt like everyone else but at least if the wrapping ever broke, she'd always have more right? Still…it probably wasn't the best clothing choice. As she was bringing the roll around her body, her vision was blurring from the bottom of her eyes and felt a tear roll down her cheek onto her lap. Sniffing, she finished up and cut off the extra cloth with her teeth, tying the ends into a knot on the side. She looked straight forward through the strands of white hair that had escaped her long ponytail and pulled off the string that tied her hair back, running a hand through her hair. "God…what am I crying about…?" She muttered under her breath, listening to the deep silence that filled the room until she heard rustling from the ground.

"Sen…sei…?" The rustling grew louder as Daisuke sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He straightened his forehead protector and stood up, shaking away the stars before his vision as all the blood rushed from his head. "Wh-where are we…?" His voice came out groggily as his hands searched around him for something to lean on while his head cleared.

Riku quickly wiped her eyes with her haori sleeve and sniffed, crossing her legs on the bed. With a wave of her hand, she waited for Daisuke to get to the edge of the bed before pulling him over and hugging him with his back to her.

"We're in the Akatsuki headquarters." Riku told him in a soft, quiet voice. Why beat around the bush? She felt him lean back into her chest, his shoulders beginning to tremble. It didn't help that he became a genin only two months ago either.

"Wh-what's gonna happen to us…?"

"I don't think anything's going to happen to you. I know for a fact that the leader respects the dead to a huge extent."

"What do you mean…?"

Riku stayed silent for a few moments, Kakashi's voice echoing in her head, _'Just wait a bit more before telling him…'_ Well, guess what, she's waited too long already. "Daisuke, let me tell you a story…about me and your mother."

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"Did you find them yet?" Genma's voice called out from within the night covered trees towards the general direction he assumed Kakashi was. They had been out since eleven at night and now the sun's morning rays were beginning to peek out from behind the mountain of the hokages. After making a full sweep through the village, they had decided to search through the training areas, but their patience was wearing thin while their anxiety was growing larger and larger by the second.

"No, should we make another round through the village?" Kakashi stepped out into the usual training field over a row of bushes, wiping sweat out from his exposed eye. He let out a sigh and brushed off some bramble seeds that were so attracted to his pants. He was continually scanning around him, his worry brewing deep in him.

"Yeah." Genma joined his friend in the open space and shook his head free of leaves. It was getting really annoying how nature really loved to stick to people for no good reason. His eyes found Kakashi's, seeing the deep fear that they both were thinking; the Akatsuki. "You don't think it's them again, do you?" His tone was clear with hesitation, stronger when he saw the change in the expressions Kakashi showed in his eye. He frowned around his metal senbon.

"I think it's safe to assume." He said gravely, kicking at the ground in anger. "I can't believe their doing this to us again…" Kakashi groaned out and started down the path towards the village of Konoha.

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A/N: Sorry y'all, I really can't stand waiting anymore for Ninja Taboo to finish. It's been two years~So I'm posting this now. NOW. Muaha. Read and Review please~


	4. Past

_Yay, Ninja Taboo is finally done! Thanks for all the hardwork NeverLookBackSamurai~ Now I can post!_

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_"First of all…Kakashi's not your dad." Riku spoke softly from behind Daisuke as she hugged him lightly in her lap. She could feel his heart thumping against in him, hearing it quite clearly as well.

"B-but…he told me they loved each other and got married and…!" Daisuke began panicking in his mind, the words that he heard feeling like a big blow to the face.

"Shh…" Riku let out quietly, "I'm not done yet. He's not your dad, but they did love each very much. Kakashi even told me he was going to propose to her once, but he was never brave enough." She paused for a little, waiting for Daisuke to calm from his mini panic attack, before turning him so he sat in her lap sideways, cradled in her arms with his head leaning against her chest. "He even bought the ring and showed me the day he got it. It was just so tempting, so I stole it from him. You should've seen him." She said with a small smile, looking down at Daisuke who watched her with curious eyes. "He chased me all around the village, up the Hokage Monument, everywhere. I finally gave it back to him in front of your mother, but I think she was too distracted by Kakashi to even realize what it was."

She noticed the corners of his mouth twitch up into a small smile, continuing on with the lighter notes of the story, hoping to drag out the ending for a little. "Anyway, besides being his 'soul mate', she was also my student, partner, and best friend."

Daisuke's head turned up when he heard 'student', surprised. "You trained my mom?"

"Yeah, we were the same age and in the same classes, but I became a jonin a few years before her, so instead of joining the usual genin teams, she asked the Hokage for special permission to be my student. She probably thought I'd be easier on her than all the other scarier looking teachers."

"Were you?"

Riku chuckled, "No way. I was a harder teacher than all the others combined."

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"Naruto!" The door of the office in the Hokage Manor flew open, rebounding off the back wall and further denting the depression in the plaster.

"Oh come on! Even as Hokage, I _still_ don't get a respective title!" The spiked blonde spun away from the large pan of windows overlooking the entire village in his large leather chair to face the two jonin's charging in at full speed. They finally managed to stop in their mad dash by slamming their hands into the edge of the large desk, pushing the document covered piece of furniture a good inch back. "What are you two doing here this early in the morning anyway? I just got here!"

They both took a few deep breaths before Genma's words slurred out in a wheeze. "Daisuke and Riku went out to train yesterday afternoon and they aren't back! We think the Akatsuki got to them again!" He took another long breath and let it out quickly, his head bent down in exhaustion.

"WHAT?!" The sixth Hokage jumped out of his chair, nearly toppling a precariously balanced pile of books and mission scrolls. He pulled off his standard Kage hat and scratched his head, an all new level stacked on top of his everlasting stress of running a village. "We can't let them keep them for any longer, especially after how close they got to the secret last time. I would go help…" Naruto sighed and replaced his hat, matting down his hair. "But if they do come and attack, I'll have to be here to protect everyone. Plus, having the Kyuubi in the same room as them isn't exactly a good plan either."

Genma and Kakashi both turned from Naruto to look at each other, nodding as they knew what the other was thinking. "Then we'll head off now." Kakashi said briskly before the two of them vanished in a combined cloud of smoke.

"What's the point of having that door…?" Naruto muttered as he waved the smoke away from him with a notebook.

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"So what was she like?"

"Well…" Riku sighed accompanied by a 'hmm' as she tried to think of words. "She was really beautiful. The kind that guys do double-takes at, but because of Kakashi, no one dared to go near her, so instead they settled for me." She laughed lightly and decided there really wasn't a good way to describe how her best friend looked so her hand dug through her hip pouch until it found its target.

Daisuke's eyes followed her hand as it pulled out from behind her, seeing a white piece of paper folded in half. He realized it was really a photograph as her fingers smoothed it open on her lap and stared through the dim light of the room at the picture. His gaze ran over the two women who looked like they had just left their teen years behind laughing in front of a background of greenery. Their arms were crossed over each other's shoulders and they were leaning as if they were trying to push the other over. He could see one was a rich brunette while the other had shining raven hair, seeing some familiarity in the latter. "Is that you?"

"Uh huh." Riku nodded and stared at the picture with him, still feeling the throb in her heart that had faded from the deep aching over time. She handed Daisuke the picture and saw him run his thumb over the girl whom her younger self had her arms over. "That's her. Fujiwara Katsuki."

"Fujiwara Katsuki…" Daisuke muttered to himself, liking the sound of it coming from him. "So where is she now…?" He looked up at her with hopeful eyes, something that made her heart break.

"A bit after she became a jonin, we were training at our usual spot and after smacking Kakashi for…anyway, we went to the dango shop that you love so much and met up with the boys. Suddenly, there was a huge explosion to the side and we saw the Akatsuki coming into Konoha, two of them being Sasori and Deidara. They were some of the top shinobi in the bingo book and after fighting with all we had, we ended up getting kidnapped into this very room." She could see his eyes beginning to wander around them, getting so much more meaning out of it than he had mere seconds ago.

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Kakashi landed at the large double doors of the village from who knows where, right next to Genma. They both had large camp style backpacks stuffed with things from minutes of random tossing and filling. Naruto was there as well to see them off.

"Here you go. A few weeks ago, our ANBU team discovered the possible location of the Akatsuki's hideout. I think it'll be better than looking around aimlessly." Naruto handed his former sensei a tightly bound scroll with a paper seal. "Well, I won't keep you guys." With that said, he began his way back to Hokage Manor, deciding on a stroll rather than making more smoke with transporting.

Kakashi slipped the scroll into one of the many pockets on the breast of his flak jacket and snapped it shut before the two dashed off out the open doors down the long path away from the village.

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"They had erased our memories and made us forget everything. Our past, Konoha… the ones we loved. After a little while, both of us accidently fell in love with our kidnappers. Big mistake, huh? The jutsu wore down after we served them for about a month and we managed to escape, but because of Deidara, Katsuki decided to go back with him and joined the Akatsuki for him, and that's where you come into the picture."

"My…my real dad is…from the Akatsuki…?! AND my mom?!?!" Riku could see him beginning to shake in alarm again and paused in the story, rubbing his arm lightly. "But, does that mean…I'm one of them too? Am I a bad shinobi?" His hands gripped the front of her haori as he gritted his teeth in distress.

"No, no! He was a member, but that has nothing to do with you. Listen, in the end, she quit the entire organization, so you don't have to worry about it. Ok?" She placed a light kiss on his head and hugged him close. Her stomach turned nervously as she thought about the ending. What face will he make? What will go through his head?

He gave a sigh tinted with little relief, his hands on her coat not slackening in the least. "Then…she's fine? She's not with the bad guys anymore. Right?"

"No, she's not. She's…not with anyone."

"Then where is she?"

"About two years after she left, the Akatsuki decided to invade Konoha and they all came. The entire thing forced me to fight her and to stop her, Kakashi interfered, and Deidara threw his special exploding clay at him."

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"How long will this take?" Genma shouted over the roaring whistles of the wind as the two sailed through the trees across the thick branches. They were both breathing hard from speeding through the Fire Country with all their strength, their ninja endurance slowly withering down from the lack of sleep and worry.

Kakashi stopped abruptly on a branch that looked like a whole other tree protruding from the main trunk that was already enormous. Genma whizzed by but jerked his head back, stunned by the masked man's sudden halt. He rebounded off the branch a few down from Kakashi's position and flew back, landing next to his partner. Kakashi unclipped the latch to his scroll pouch and his hand caught the map as it slipped out smoothly. He bit his thumb and let a little drop of blood seep out before running his finger pad across the paper seal on the scroll, watching the crimson liquid seep in. He looked on and a moment later, the very words vanished. He pulled off the sheet, undid the cord, and spread out the map. The two took a seat on the rough bark and Kakashi laid the chart in between them.

"I think we're around here right now." His index tapped at a spot about an inch from the edge of the forest that took up most of the map. "And the hideout is here." His index hovered over to the west, almost to the other side of the forest. "About…three days?"

Genma knitted his eyebrows together and rubbed his eyes, aggravated as his thoughts pulled all the worst case scenarios that could be happening to Riku and Daisuke into one. "Sitting here isn't helping anyone!" He scrambled to his feet and bolted through the forest once again, leaving a perplexed Kakashi in his wake. Kakashi swiftly rolled up the map and followed after at his top speed.

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_I hope this is almost as acceptable as NLBS's writing. -grin- We have very different styles so please enjoy this as much as you can. Both of us would appreciate reviews too!_


	5. Pain

_I don't own Naruto~ And yeah, I only write this disclaimer occasionally. Riku is mine and I'm using Daisuke with NLBS' permission._

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"What happened?" A deep feeling of horror was building in Daisuke and he rose from his seat in Riku's lap, backing away a little to get a better look at her. Everything in her story played out perfectly in his mind, all the images so vivid and realistic.

"…She ran---"

The sound of the sliding slab opening cut her off, trailed by the padding of sandals on the floors. Tobi came in swiftly and strode over to the bed without delay. With a sharp tug, he pulled Riku up onto her feet and spun her around to wrench her arm behind her back. He glimpsed at the young boy attempting to make himself as small as possible against the wall. "Very good. Stay in here like an obedient little ninja."

Riku grunted as she was jerked into submission, angry her chakra was blocked completely or else he would've had his limb ripped off already. "What the hell are you doing?"

"We're having a little get-together." With that said he pushed her out the door and shut it quickly behind him to ensure Daisuke stayed trapped in the old room. The masked ninja steered her through the large maze of halls, passing hidden doors judging by the very faint cracks in the walls. After a while, they finally stopped at the very end of the hall merging into the large memorable room. Pain sat in his raised chair to the side while the other Akatsuki stood in a loose circle.

Riku was shoved into the center and forced onto her knees, Tobi's hands clamping her wrists as one. She raised her head at Pain, burning a hole into his stoic face with a death glare.

"Ah, Riku-san, why such a severe look?"

"Because you are the bane of my existence."

"Isn't that a little harsh?"

She clenched her jaw to keep from unleashing all her fury onto his sick, smiling face. There was an intense impulse to leap at him and pull his piercings right out of him, but she knew she wouldn't be any match for him without any chakra, plus she wasn't _that_ cruel.

"I know we've had this conversation before, but would you be so kind as to tell me where the Houkou's jinchuuriki is?"

"Like hell I will."

"Well, we'll have to fix that." He gave a tiny, almost unnoticeable nod to the general area that caused the sound of drawing metal to ring out from behind her. From out of nowhere a sharp pain erupted in the back of her right shoulder. She gritted her teeth, forcing back a scream of pain and shock as she felt the warm liquid flowing down her arm, spreading through her haori.

"I'm guessing you know what'll happen if you don't enlighten us."

"Fuck. Off." She said low and grave, her eyes looking straight into Pain's narrowed, annoyed ones. She noticed him nod once more and the pain intensified as Tobi ran the kunai knife slowly over her shoulder blade and down towards her waist.

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The flames flickered as it licked the branches, eating away at the dried grass and leaves. Genma sat by the heat and he just watched the fire. Just watched it. There was nothing in his mind, only her. That was it. Not even the sound of the twigs snapping and leaves crunching from underneath Kakashi's footsteps stirred him as he came back with two full canteens of water. Kakashi took a seat across from Genma by the fire and pulled down his mask to take a swig of his canteen, tasting the strange flavor of the river. Screwing the plastic cap on and replacing his mask, he took out the map once more to make sure they weren't too much off course, wanting something to do instead of sitting in the awkward silence that enclosed them. Judging by how fast Genma had raced through, they probably cut off half a day from the original three-day trip, but it really wasn't fast enough for them, especially Genma. Kakashi dared to look up at his distant gaze, a frown hanging from his senbon heavily. "We should get some sleep while we can tonight."

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"Are you sure she'll break before whoever decides to come save her gets here?" Kisame asked Pain as he watched the retreating figure of Tobi walking a disoriented Riku back down the hall to her room. His sensitive nose burned with the thick scent of blood in the air, his beady eyes breaking away from the leaving pair and to the large pool of the liquid on the floor with two fading tracks smudged outwards from the woman's knees being dragged.

"Just be patient." Pain muttered, passing by his subordinate to rest in his own room. _She's as strong as last time…no…perhaps even more. Those hours of pain should've been enough…Something's not right with her…_

Tobi lightly brushed his fingers over the wall and entered the dark room with a wobbly Riku's arm around his shoulders. He laid her face down on the bed, noticing a sleeping Daisuke on the side, and grabbed the small candle by the door, going along the walls to light the large torches bolted to them.

As the room brightened, Daisuke stirred and pushed himself up groggily. He rubbed his eyes, feeling the sting from the sudden light and finally cleared his vision enough to make out Tobi. His heart jumped with a startling shock, continuing his attempt to make himself smaller against the headboard.

Tobi turned to the terrified genin with a sigh and replaced the candle into its holder before crossing over to the bed. "Don't worry, I'm not going to do anything to you, I think you should worry about her more."

Daisuke took a sharp breath but kept staring at the sharingan eye within the orange mask, confused. He followed the direction Tobi nodded and looked down, his breath choking him as he gazed at the blood-stained figure of his mentor, kunai knives protruding from her back that subtly moved up and down with her shallow breathing. "S-sensei…" His hand reached out, shaking, for her but he quickly drew back when he saw a gloved hand approaching his.

Ignoring Daisuke's movements, Tobi kneeled down by Riku and slowly hooked his finger in the ring on the end of one of kunais, being careful to not move the embedded weapon. He glanced down at her half-closed eyes, her jaw still tense as ever. With one swift move, he plucked the blade from her lower back, seeing fresh blood flowing out. Quickly tossing the knife to the side, he drew out the many others, forming a dripping pile at the foot of the bed with his other hand holding down the writhing kunoichi by her neck. "Daisuke, take off her coat."

The boy watched in horror at the wounds that ran across her back, not able to answer the man as he did what he was instructed, very hesitantly peeling the haori back. His eyes widened as the amount of blood and raw flesh revealed itself.

Tobi grew impatient with his cautiousness, aiding him with a smooth tug and whipping the soaked cloth onto the ground. From within his cloak, he grabbed a few thick gauze pads and pressed them onto her deeper gashes, especially the one that ran the length of center along her back, applying as much pressure as he could without snapping her spine. Waiting calmly to halt her bleeding, he checked over the results in his merciless maiming, spotting quite a few smooth black lines imprinted into her skin. "Oops, looks like I broke your tattoo."

Hearing no response, he looked up at Riku and only saw her staring back at him from the corner of her eye, looking still disoriented and pale. He let out a muffled sigh and got to wrapping her with clean bandages over her already present ones, though they were very stained and some were only connected by a few threads from the knife slices.

_'You know I can instantly heal all those and stop the pain.'_ The quiet whisper of a female voice echoed silkily through Riku's mind, calling her into the confines of its own world. She stood in an enormous hollow trunk, sunlight pouring in from the large opening behind her. The ground beneath her was flat dirt while outside there was a rich layer of grass with insects flying in swarms, revealed by the bright light. She took a quick look above her at the darkness of what seemed like an endless trunk and then at the huge metal cage in front of her. It looked fairly old with a layer of dust and dirt on it, the huge padlock holding the door closed rusted, the key inserted in it having a fine coat of brown as well. "That wouldn't be a very smart move, would it? With all the enemies around to detect your strange chakra, it won't be subtle at all."_  
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_'Then you're just going to keep letting them cut you up?'_

"That's what I'm planning. For now."

_'I still don't know if you're extremely stubborn or just crazy.'_

"I've got a huge-ass dog inside me, who knows what the hell I am."

Tobi tied off the bandages and stood up, feeling the strange sensation of blood rushing back into his legs. He noticed Riku's closed eyes and calmed breathing and gave a nod to a slightly relieved Daisuke, picked up the used kunai and her haori, then left without another word.

Daisuke sat there baffled for a few minutes then finally scooted over to Riku slowly, scanning the clean cloth that enclosed her and could see the very faint spots of red from the layers underneath. He lay down next to her on his side, not able to shut his eyes at all, and stared at the back of the jounin's head. His eyelids heavily fell at last but a light shuffling sound grabbed his attention and he opened up to the dull eyes of his teacher, pain and agony clear in her black pupils. "Sensei…? A-are you ok…?" _Wow, that sounded like the most ridiculous question to ask._

Riku's eyebrow twitched a little, rising up while a small smile tugged at the corners of her lips. Her arm lifted and pulled him over to her, wincing from the sharp sting in her shoulder. "Do you still have that picture?" She asked in a low, tired voice.

Daisuke nodded and got into a comfortable position underneath her arm.

"Keep it safe. There's no way to get another one."

"Why not?"

She sighed. "She saw Deidara's attack flying at Kakashi and jumped in front of him, catching the clay in her chest. Without realizing, Deidara detonated it accidently." She heard a sharp gasp.

"I don't like how this is going…" Daisuke searched in her dim eyes.

"She's not coming back."

It hit him. It hit him so hard in the pit of his stomach tears came out. "She's gone…?"

Riku rolled back onto her side with creaks of the old mattress, ignoring the throbbing of her back as she scooped him into her arms and hugged him tightly, listening to him cry. "I'm sorry sweetie."

She stayed like that until he fell asleep.

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Sorry if you guys think this is going slowly...I'm trying to pace this. .


	6. Gaze

_Uh...nothing I really need to write here._

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The bright sun seeped through the shelter of leaves above, hitting Kakashi right in his eye. His eyebrows scrunched up along with his eye, feeling the unpleasant sting from the sudden brightness. Rolling over the thin blanket he had slept on, the leaves crunched noisily underneath, almost like a very annoying alarm. He sat up unsteadily with a long, deep yawn as he stretched his arms high above his head. "Ugh…why couldn't the route go through a town with beds…?" He muttered, feeling a pop in his spine.

"Ready to go?"

Kakashi flinched with a start from the sudden voice and looked over to see the senbon-user completely packed and sitting there all ready. He could see the faint semi-circles of gray beginning to fade into the skin under Genma's eyes, his expression still very empty. "Did you sleep at all?"

"Yeah." Genma lied in an extremely natural tone, getting up on his feet and looking down at Kakashi, his impatience making him fidget with his senbon in between his lips.

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"Tobi, take some to their room." Pain directed while he entered a small room not unlike the others and took a seat at the head of a large wooden table where Tobi was setting large dishes of food. There really wasn't any way for them to just waltz into town for breakfast without attracting sharp metal objects, so all the power to Chef Tobi.

"Of course." Tobi speedily grabbed two bowls of rice and a large plate, piling a good amount of each dish onto it before the other members could devour them instantly. Swiping two pairs of chopsticks on the way out the door, he carried the tray with the help of his shoulder down the hall, already hearing the loud debating of who gets the last piece of fish.  
Riku awoke promptly when she heard the sound of clinking ceramic and footsteps and slipped her arm out from underneath the sleeping Daisuke's head bit by bit. She unhurriedly sat herself up, groaning in her throat from the still potent pain in her backside.

Tobi cautiously slipped in through the door, careful not to bump the tray against the sides, and set the food down on the bed in front of the two. "Breakfast time!" He said aloud in a very happy voice, pleased with the jumpy reaction from Daisuke as he woke up. "Hope you guys like it!" He quickly left the room and shut the doorway.

Riku blinked, quite confused with the man's strange giddiness but shrugged it off and grabbed one of the bowls and chopsticks, shifting through some of the food before scooping them into her rice and stuffing her face.

"Sensei! Be careful! What if they poisoned it or drugged it or…!" He was out of bad options and had sat up with a very panicked look as he watched his sensei shoving food into her mouth.

"Daiheh, dun wowee…" Giving up, she swallowed the food, feeling the heat from it going down, and then tried again. "Daisuke, don't worry, they're not going to poison people they need information from." She handed him a bowl with chopsticks sticking out of the rice calmly and continued eating.

Daisuke took a quick look through the white grains and sighed, hearing the loud growling of his stomach. He joined his teacher and was quite surprised at how good the food tasted. Hell, the rice even tasted wonderful. _It's probably just 'cause I'm hungry…_ He thought stubbornly, refusing to acknowledge anything of the Akatsuki.

"What are you going to do to the girl now, Leader-sama?" Zetsu's white side asked while the two strode down the hall. "Can't I just eat the little bitch?" The black side snarled out sinisterly, licking his lips at the very thought.

"We will attack her mentally next. Then tomorrow is when she will truly break.

"And the boy?"

"Leave him alone for now. In the meantime, while the others are out on missions, we'll start with today's…discipline. Please go fetch her." Pain silently made his way down the passage to his throne-like chair and sat down as the Venus flytrap had stopped in the middle of the hall at their 'guest room'.

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"Genma, will you slow down?!" Kakashi yelled at the back of the still accelerating shinobi, already panting even with his trained endurance and stamina. "SLOW DOWN, DAMN IT!"

Genma didn't listen. Well, he couldn't really hear anything but his own erratic breathing. He ignored the pain in his ribs and just kept running, his eyes focused on the scene before him. From his daze, his foot slipped on the branch ahead and fell down through the tangle of branches and leaves.

"Damn it, damn it…" Kakashi kicked off the trunk next to him and launched himself towards the empty space Genma was heading quickly to fill. The thud of two bodies crashing into each other thundered out and they slid through the thick layer of leaves and dirt on the ground, only stopping after leaving a long trench of wet earth behind. There were deep grunts of pain as Kakashi rolled off a struggling Genma, feeling the soreness in his ribs as he coughed from the dust they had kicked up. "WH-WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"

Genma didn't meet his eyes as he scrambled to his feet and turned his back, ready to continue on already. Just as he took a step, a hand gripped his shoulder twisted him around, brutally shoving him into a tree. "Kakashi, let go! I need to find Riku!"

"YOU NEED TO GET A GRIP! DO YOU THINK WASTING YOUR BODY IS GOING TO HELP YOU FIND HER ANY FASTER?!"

"I CAN TRY!"

"HOW ARE YOU GOING TO HELP HER IF YOU'RE ON THE VERGE OF DEATH?!"

Genma snapped and his hands found their way to Kakashi's collar, "WHO ARE YOU TO JUDGE ME?! JUST BECAUSE YOU COULDN'T PROTECT KATSUKI DOESN'T MEAN THAT---" His words seemed to cut his throat as they shot out, his sentence lodged inside as everything seemed to tighten but his hands, letting go of Kakashi's flak jacket. "I…I'm sorry…I just…" He sighed and slid down against the rough bark behind him onto the damp grass, holding his head in his hands.

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"I am getting really sick of this room." Riku stood at the center of the room with Zetsu behind her and Pain on his throne, but other than them, it was a very empty room. She crossed her arms, irritated, across her chest, feeling a little naked without her usual haori, but wearing a blood stained coat wasn't very preferred either.

"Then let's send you somewhere else. Tobi?"

Riku narrowed her eyes, questioning what he meant in her mind until she saw the usual orange mask emerge from behind the large chair. She didn't even sense him at all. Shit. He strode over to her, standing mere inches away from her and staring down straight into her eyes with his single crimson one. She just gave him a flat stare, not caring what he dished out. Out of nowhere, her body was thrown into a negative world, the blood red moon hanging in the middle of the same colored sky. It looked like a disturbing funhouse filled with mirrors, showing a field of Riku copies strapped against large wooden T's. Unexpectedly, scorching pain pierced her shoulder, the torture worse than what she endured yesterday ten-fold, only becoming more horrific with each blade the grayscale Tobi in front of her stabbed in. Her mouth opened to scream, but it was silenced, not even giving her the relief of yelling.

"How long should I keep it going?" Tobi asked as he watched Riku writhing on the ground after only a brief two seconds, her expression distorted with pain, her scream sounding out through the room. "To her, it's been ten days already."

"How many days is one minute?"

"About a hundred-twenty days of torture."

"Give her two minutes." Pain answered finally in an indifferent tone.

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"Genma, I know how you feel right now, but you need to think all this through first. Rushing into something head-on isn't like you." Kakashi took a seat in front of the distressed man, running a gloved hand through his silver hair.

"There's so much more risk this time…" Genma muttered, pulling his hands away from his face.

Kakashi looked at him in the eyes with a reassuring glint in his own eye. "Come on, its Riku, she's gone through a lot more. If I can trust her with Daisuke, you should believe she's strong enough."

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Riku's heavy breathing filled the quiet room, replacing her previous screaming as Tobi finally released her from his Tsukiyomi. Her eyes opened up to the stone floor, the fact that she had fallen to her hands and knees registering for the first time.

"Ready to tell us?" Pain had his leg crossed over the other, his cheek lightly resting against his propped up fist on his armrest.

"N…no…" Riku panted out, her head hanging from the exhaustion Tobi had inflicted upon her._'Just let me take over for a few minutes and you'll be out with the boy.'  
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_"No. I'm not letting you out now."  
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_'Why can't you just let go of your pride?' The huge white dog gazed down with its thin slits of eyes at Riku sitting with her legs crossed, then out the huge opening of the hollow tree it resided in, noticing the grass outside was slowly fading into a dull tan color, the sun's rays fading as clouds rolled in to block it  
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_"'Cause I'm just stubborn like that. Don't you love it?"  
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Pain's leg uncrossed and stomped down on the floor, his patience wearing thin. "Tobi, could you please try something a little different?"

Tobi took a moment for thoughts and remembered the perfect event from quite a while ago that he had overlooked from atop a high building to the side, safe from the flaming dangers. He got down on one knee, pulling up Riku's hanging head by her hair and forcing his gaze upon her's.

She looked back through slightly glazed eyes and within the slow second that passed, she was suddenly thrown into a large vortex-like world with a huge jolt, plunging into a dark abyss until her face greeted cold stone, hard. She groaned as she pushed herself up, dazed with a loud ringing in her ears. "Where am I now…?" Burning heat began brushing over her skin, orange lights blazing in a huge ring around her as her eyes squinted to make out what was happening. There were people. There was blood. "Katsuki…" Her eyes flickered between her best friend and…herself? They were armed and the blades were clashing together so fiercely Riku was sure sparks would be flying out anytime. As the event unfolded before her, she couldn't understand what was going through her head. There were so many questions, emotions, screaming.

Suddenly, there was the huge white dog that haunted her conscious, and then it came. The blond on the side pitching a small bird, the woman stepping in front of her lover. "No…NO! NO! NO!" Riku began scrambling towards them but at that moment, she felt a white hot pain coursing through her hands and stomach. A puddle of blood began spreading out from underneath her while she looked around, searching for the sources of her agony, seeing her own katanas pinning her hands and body down to the roof. A sickening blast pounded against her ears and she felt fresh tears running down her face, the scene blurring. Katsuki held her stomach tightly with a cringed face and fell to her knees once more, Kakashi not being able to catch her in time. "Katsuki…I'm sorry…I'm sorry…!"

The scene before her flashed back to the hated lair she was trapped in, her head throbbing painfully. She stared down at the small puddle of water as another drop fell from her eye. "It was my fault…" She felt her body being lifted up and swung over a shoulder but didn't move anything, just hung there limp.

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_A/N: Uh...hope this is ok so far, I would appreciate reviews so I know the good and bad points. Uh...yeah. Please stick with me! ._


	7. Demands

_Woah, two uploads in two days?! Amazing! LoL._

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The faint glow of dawn snuck over the edge of the tall mountains and trees, slowly washing the land in its soft light and revealing the stunning calligraphy on the lonely, worn slip of paper. The seal was glued to the large boulder that blocked entry to the massive mouth of a cave in the side of the mountain.

"Looks like we're finally here." Kakashi glanced at his partner through an exhausted eye, shadows already beginning to seep their way to the surface underneath them. They were both crouched on a far branch that overlooked the cave and the small pond that surrounded it, both trying hard to think of a plan that would leave them undetected. He could see Genma's shaking shoulders, knowing how hard he was trying to follow safety procedure instead of rushing in like a wild animal who's just found its lost prey. He bit down on his thumb, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu."

The seal spread out from underneath his bloodied finger and a small puff of white brought forth a yawning blue-clothed pug. It sighed in an elderly voice. "What is it? I was in the middle of a Shogi game."

"Can you smell Riku?" Genma asked, jumping the gun.

"_And_ Daisuke." Kakashi rolled his eyes and looked down at the frustrated dog.

"She got herself and someone else in trouble _again_?" Pakkun sighed once more and began sniffing the air, instantly turning to the sealed cave. "They _are_ in there…but I'm not sure if there's any way to sneak in undetected. I can trace an old scent that circles the perimeter of the pond, possibly marking how wide the chakra detecting dome emanating from the seal is. The moment you step in, they'll know. The most I can do is to show you the fastest way through the place."

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Tobi brushed his fingers across the rough surface of the section of the wall he had been ordered to much more than he usually would, which was pretty much never, and entered the room that reeked of wood and clay, now overpowered by the scent of iron. The sight he saw was just as depressing as the entire organization he ran, perhaps even more, with the image of a young boy in an upright fetal position on the bed and the still youthful looking woman sitting in the corner with her legs sprawled out in front of her, her white hair spilling over her shoulders. Her normally brilliant onyx eyes were now just murky clouds that stared to the side through half-open lids, distant beyond comprehension. The boy's eyes were a little more alive, having flickered over to the intruder of the room, the vivid red veins prominent in the white surrounding his irises.

"Get out." The young boy's voice rasped out completely void of the usual enthusiasm and childishness, replaced with the cold, merciless tone of a murderer. With a sudden flick of his fingers, a gleaming kunai flashed out of his sleeve, the surface hinted with the day-old blood of his sensei.

"Hmm, I must've missed that one." Tobi murmured, recalling the pile of knives he had removed the night before from the woman. He slowly began acknowledging the tone in Daisuke's voice and eyed the kunai for a second. Even his icy-blue pupils looked different. "Are you sure you want to do that?"

"Get. Out."

"We'll compromise then. You can come with us this time and _try_ to prevent whatever we're planning."

Daisuke mulled this over in his mind a few times before slowly unfolding his body and crawling off the bed. He stood against the wall, keeping a good distance between the Akatsuki and himself while still being within lunging reach of Riku. His gaze followed the masked ninja's every movement, from crossing the room to gently slinging his sensei over his shoulder.  
The masked ninja set the woman on her feet, only to catch her by the arms when she slumped down to her knees, her eyes still as blank as ever. Daisuke had flinched to keep her from falling but took a step back when Tobi had taken care of it, jumping when his back hit a sturdy figure. Zetsu grabbed him by the shoulders and dragged him up to the vacant spot by the seat where Pein sat.

The leader sighed, annoyed. "How many times are you going to make me go through this?" He raised an eyebrow and the pierced corners of his mouth pulled down into a frown at the still silent figure kneeled before him.

"Maybe she's too scared to speak." Zetsu's giant smile was prominent in his every word.

Pein raised a hand to silence the plant and snapped his fingers, causing Zetsu to force Daisuke into a position right next to Pein's hand. The figurehead pulled the genin down to his eye level by the collar, feeling the stiffness of his frozen body. "You're really going to make me resort to this?" He merely glanced into the boy's eyes and Daisuke's pupils dilated, a bloodcurdling scream unleashed from his throat.

It shook her. Everything inside. Everything in her mind. Her head snapped up a split second ahead of her mind, her priorities clear before her. _Katsuki…I'm not going to break another promise…_ She scrambled forward, her feet slipping on the damp floor, as her hands pushed off to get her body upright again, but a heavy weight pounced onto her and held her down against the rough stone. She barely realized it was Tobi pinning her down while her fingers clawed at the ground, struggling to pull herself to the agony torn boy.

--|--

Pakkun's ears perked up when a scream escaped through the small cracks the boulder didn't fully seal around the cave mouth. "We need to go. Now." The dog pushed off the branch and the two men quickly followed suit towards the small tag. Genma tossed a kunai towards a sliver of space where the blade wedged itself. Three rectangle pieces of paper dangled from the end by some wire and the edges immediately began burning. A large combined fireball exploded and blew a few chunks of rock off the boulder and the edges of the cave, making enough room for the three to slip in.

--|--

Zetsu's head suddenly jerked towards the large hall that eventually led up to ground level and out, his expression completely unfazed by the screaming child in his hands. "Leader-sama…!"

"Let them in. None of you will touch them." Pein's gaze never looked away from watching Riku desperately fighting to get out from Tobi's grasp, a sick glint of amusement in his Rinnegan eyes. "Riku-san, why are you trying to hard? I'm merely doing this young man a favor." He noticed her falter and her eyes narrow in suspicion. "It's not like I'm hurting him, I'm merely relieving him of all his tension. All the screaming he's been holding in. Like for being kidnapped or seeing you cut up…or for the truth of his mother. And it's such a simple method of putting him in the shoes of the killer."

"Y-you're doing _what_?" Riku's eyes widened and her jaw clenched, her gaze fixated on the profile of Daisuke's twisted expression. "No! Stop it!" She yelled out, loud enough over his screaming, and began clawing even harder at the floor. She could feel herself beginning to slip out from Tobi's grab and had a little hope that she would be able to free herself until the pain of a healing wound being torn open erupted from her back. "Shit…" Her arms were drawn back to keep herself from collapsing onto her face, her hands gripped in fists.

"Riku!" A familiar voice resonated from the hall to the side into the large room along with three pairs of footsteps. Daisuke's continuous scream suddenly cut off and Riku's head snapped up in fear, but was slightly relieved when she realized the genjutsu just ended. The boy took a huge breath of air in a sharp gasp and fell onto his knees, panting and sweating.

Riku sighed, glad that he wasn't going into a mental breakdown…at least not yet…and looked over to the side at the unexpected visitors, her breath hitching when she took in Genma's shocked face through her white veil of untied hair.

The scent of blood filled his nose as Genma stood there stunned at the sight of the woman pinned down by the Uchiha. He stared at the blood soaking the draped haori that was slipping off in her struggle, revealing the crimson bandages underneath. "What did you bastards do to her?!" Two arms quickly curled around him into a full-nelson to restrain his impulse to attack by Kakashi who wasn't as worried about Daisuke as much as Genma was Riku. The boy really didn't seem to be in much danger at the moment, just dazed, but the jounin he was holding back seemed to be in much more danger of leaping into his death.

"STAY BACK!"

Genma froze from his thrashing in Kakashi's containment, looking into Riku's dark eyes. "What are you talking ab---"

"This is my problem! Don't do anything!" Within that phrase, Riku suddenly noticed how quiet the Akatsuki were. They hadn't moved an inch at all, even when the Konoha ninja came in. She worked off this. "Pein!" She glared up into his Rinnegan. "You really wanna know? Then let Daisuke go with them back to Konoha. No following, no fighting. Nothing."

"I don't think you're in any position to compromise right now." His voice was flat and cool.

"You really think I'll tell you if you do anything to these people? I'd kill myself first before that happens."

Pein raised an eyebrow and a hint of a smirk pulled at the corner of his mouth. "…Alright then." He raised his hand as his usual signal and Zetsu picked up Daisuke, leading him over to the Konoha jounin on the side. Kakashi delayed taking his foster son for a second to make sure Genma was in control for now and cautiously took Daisuke from the venus flytrap into his arm, watching the beady gold eyes as they retreated back to Pein's side. "No one attacks nor follows. Understood?"

The members nodded a little and Pein turned back to Riku. "You have my word. They will make it back safely."

"You heard him. Take Daisuke and go home." She said without breaking eye contact with Pein.

"What are you talking about?!" Genma yelled back, his hands clenched into fists.

"Just do it! I promise I'll come back, ok?! Just listen to me _now_!"

"Are you _kidding_ me?! You think I'm just going to leave you here with these-"

"Genma! Take. Him. Back." Riku transferred her glare to him, an almost plead within it.

"You can't be serious! I just found you and you want me to leave?!"

She gritted her teeth and looked away, down at the stone floor. "Take him back…or I'll _never_ say 'I do'." Her throat tightened and she swallowed the horrifying aftertaste of the words she just said, feeling the soreness.

Genma's mouth hardened into a thin line as he took in the words, feeling the acid in his veins leak into his mouth, ready to spit it at the Akatsuki leader. He took a last glimpse at Riku's bloody figure and a deep breath through his nose before turning around and sprinting back down the way they came from.

Kakashi slung the exhausted Daisuke over his shoulder and looked at the kunoichi, his worry dominating his shown eye. "We'll be waiting." He nodded to Pakkun who sighed and they followed after Genma's heels, leaving the mission target in their wake.

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_A/N: Alright, this story is like Ninja Taboo, meaning there's one major time skip. So this marks the end of part one. I hope you don't get confused with the next chapter and be all "WTF, why is everything different?!" M'kay? Thanks for reading._


	8. Return

Usual disclaimer...just go through the previous chapters to find it. XP  


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"Suki-chan! Can I have more tea?!"

"Order up!"

"Alright, alright! I'm coming!" The woman quickly dropped off the dishes that were balanced on a waitress plate and raced across the small restaurant. She skidded to a stop at the back where the wall was open with a counter into the kitchen. "Kai-san, I need numbers two, three, six, nine, two orders of ten, eleven, and sixteen!" She speedily recited the orders of the cramped customers as she piled the ready plates onto her tray, glancing at the cook's dropped jaw. She chuckled and held up the order slip with a grin. "Would you like to keep this?"

"Uh…yeah…if I may." The young, white capped chef nodded.

She stuck the piece of paper in front of him on the small metal stand. "Suki-chan, tea please!"

"Oh, right! In a second, ma'am!" Slapping a clean rag on top of her shoulder-length black hair, she set a hot teapot on and hoped the thin fabric would protect her scalp from burning. She rushed through the narrow spaces between tables and chairs, skillfully hopping over backpacks, feet, and the one floorboard that stuck out of the otherwise flat floor. _Ding ding ding._

"Here are some more, Ri-, Uh…Suki-san!"

She nearly tripped over a woman's leg but found her balance immediately, miraculously keeping the food and soup in their dishes, and shot a glare to Kai. "I'll be right there!" _Just one more hour till closing…_

--|--

"Hey Dad! I'm taking Izumi out tonight!" The teen sat at the doorway in his new clothes he poured his blood, sweat, and tears—Ok, just sweat—into after so many missions just for tonight, pulling on his sandals. He heard dull footsteps and looked behind his shoulder at a pajama clad Kakashi with his unequal eyes half-open. "I'm guessing yesterday's mission wore you out, huh? You've been sleeping all day." Daisuke chuckled as he jumped onto his feet and opened the door, nearly plowing straight through a casually dressed Genma in the doorway. "Ah! Sorry Genma!" He glanced at his watch out of nervous habit, "I'm gonna be late! I'll see you later!" He slipped past the jounin and made a quick hand sign before vanishing in a puff of white smoke.

Kakashi scratched his head and ruffled his silver hair, "Hey Genma, what brings you here?"

"Well, I was going to come wake you up, but since you already are, I'm just going to kill some time before I have to meet Kyoko." Genma noticed Kakashi motion him in and stepped into the apartment, taking off his shoes with his feet. He shut the door behind him quickly and followed his friend into the small resting room. He took a seat at the low table as Kakashi retrieved a bottle of sake and two shot glasses.

"Kyoko?" Kakashi's hand hesitated as he began filling his glass, his eyes narrowing slightly. "You're still going out with her?"

"Is that bad?" Genma filled his own cup with the liquor and downed it in one buzzing mouthful.

"It's just that…what if Riku found out…?" Kakashi's voice trailed out at the end and he filled it with his portion of sake.

A heavy silence awkwardly fell upon the two, only breaking when Genma's glass clanked hollowly on the table. He had by no means forgotten his chosen fiancée, but after waiting for so long, something made him give up. The routine of volunteering to help keep watch of the large front gates of the village in the tiny stand slowly began to become old, taking up so much of his free time. What had he thought about during all that time of staring out down the path through the forest, hoping she would just walk up with her usual smile? "She's not going to find out, because she's not coming back."

"You don't know th-" Kakashi swallowed his words and looked at the hand Genma had slammed down onto the old wood surface.

"I'm going to go meet up with Kyoko. Thanks for the drink." The brunette's gaze tore away from the table and went to the entry way, slamming the door behind him.

--|--

_Clunk clunk clunk._ Suki's wooden sandals sounded against the old stairs dully as she came down from the second floor with a big backpack and a coat on her shoulders. Reaching the last step, she looked out at the moonlight soaked room while her hand searched the wall for the light switch out of habit and flicked it up. The tiny restaurant was bathed in the warm light and suddenly, the other employees and everyday regulars emerged from below the tables with their arms in the air, yelling out the words on a white banner that was unrolling behind them,

"We'll miss you, Suki-chan!"

Suki's face filled with a deep blush and the corners of her eyes watered up. "You are all such dorks…" She said with a laugh, soon joined by others.

The little old lady who owned the place emerged from behind the much taller Kai and walked up to the stunned waitress. Her frail hand pulled out a small white envelope and held it up to the woman with a small smile. "Here is your pay."

Suki's eyes widened a little in surprise at the barely five-feet tall owner. "Urg, I can't take that! You gave me food and board and…!"

The paper package was unexpectedly smacked into her cheek and tucked into her held up hands, the senior's raspy voice easily heard over the crowd despite what one may expect of the aged throat. "We all know the journey you are taking, and everyone doesn't want you to go. But since we have to, we wanted to do something in return for all you've done."

Suki's furrowed eyebrows showed how hard she was trying to hold back tears and her hands clutched the money tightly as she bowed deeply. "Thank you everyone!" Everyone let out a roaring cheer and she bent down to loosely, so as to not break the elder, yet warmly hug her. "Thank you…again."

"Just remember to visit whenever you can, ok?"

Suki nodded and pulled away, tucking the envelope into the light blue folds of her loose yukata. After a long round of hugs, goodbyes and pats on the back from all the other people in the room, she was finally able to get through the front door and out into the warm night. She turned to face the large gathering and gave one last bow before setting out, waving to them as she went down the path until the building was out of sight. She took in a breath of mid-summer evening and slipped the white sleeveless haori onto her lithe figure followed by her backpack. A sigh escaped. "Guess I really am going home after four years…" She looked down the path that was leading her towards the border of the fire country. _Thanks, Suki._

-Three days later-

Two jounin chatted away in the small wooden stand right in the Konoha gates with a stack of empty take-out ramen bowls in the middle of the desk they sat at. It was unusual for the gates to be open during this time of peace when there weren't any missions that would force a ninja to return so late, but it seemed that the Hokage was expecting a guest tonight.

"When is this guest coming anyway? It's almost one AM and I want to go home…"

Ibiki glanced over to the newly appointed Konohamaru with an annoyed expression wrinkling his scarred face, immediately shutting him up. "You can go home when the guest arrives. And until they do, you will be a proper, disciplined jounin that will not bring disgrace to this village."

The Fourth's grandson sighed and looked out towards the tree-lined path. "What's to disgrace? We're just sitting here and waiting. Oooh, so much disgrace." Feeling the aura of murder from the man beside him, Konohamaru quickly sat still and sealed his mouth. A few minutes later, his trained ears picked up shifting gravel and nudged the interrogation officer, pointing out a dark figure emerging from the nightfall on the path. "Hey, is that the guest?"

Ibiki's eyes watched the thin figure slowly make their way through the large doorway and into the village, staring even when she was standing in front of the stand. "You…so you finally decided to come back?" He looked at her newly formed smile, greeting it with his own.

"Thank you Ibiki-san, Konohamaru-kun, for waiting so long. Please do not announce my arrival."

The two watched the tattered haori as she strolled casually into the dim nightlife of the village. Konohamaru turned to Ibiki with big hopeful eyes and a smile too big for his face.

The officer sighed and rolled his eyes, "Yes, _now_ you may go home."

Within half a second, Konohamaru was gone in a puff of smoke without even a good-bye.

Ibiki rubbed his temples and slowly got out of his seat to go home. "How did he even pass the _chuunin_ exam?"

--|--

At the brightly lit Ichiraku's Ramen, a shocking bush of blond hair sat on one of the stools at the counter, placing an empty ramen bowl to add to a tall stack of five. "Ah, your ramen is still the best! Onee-chan, another bowl please!" He grinned big at Teuchi's daughter who took over after the old man retired.

Ayame's bright laugh rang as she handed him an already prepared bowl. "Don't forget that you still have to pay for these, even if you are the Hokage."

"Yeah, I know." He said through a mouthful, "And thanks for staying open so late. She'll be here in a little bit."

"Wow, that smells good, I'll take pork miso."

"Or she'll be here now."

"Good evening Hokage-sama." She ducked underneath the low hanging curtain and took a seat next to the sixth.

"It sounds so cool when everyone else says it, but when you say it, it's _too_ formal, Riku-nee-san." Naruto looked over at the woman and his eyebrows rose in surprise. "You changed your hair again?" He analyzed the black strands that gradually faded into white at the tips.

"Just some change, ya know?" Riku shrugged her shoulders and gave a quick 'thanks' for the ramen Ayame had set in front of her and broke a pair of chopsticks evenly, shoveling a bunch of noodles into her mouth.

The two sat in a comfortable silence as they practically inhaled the food until Naruto finished his twice as fast. "So what are you gonna do later?"

Riku swallowed and thought things over with an 'hmm' while her chopsticks twisted themselves into more ramen. "I dunno…probably go wake Kakashi and annoy him and bother Daisuke…then go over to Genma's."

"I wouldn't do the latter. At least not tonight." Naruto muttered and glanced up at Ayame, seeing her brows knit together and turn her back to them to wipe a very clean sink.

Riku's hand froze just as she was about to shove the last of her ramen into her mouth and nearly clambered out of the stool as she ran out the ramen bar. She bolted down the dimly lit streets, her lungs already beginning to sting as she sprinted her fourth block. _Dammit, this is pathetic…_ She never though working as a waitress and not having much training done during the four years would've have brought her limit so pitifully low. She winded down and leaned onto her knees, taking deep breaths but continuously stopped short as she felt the throbbing in her throat. _What could've happened for him to make a face like that…?_ She thought back at the distressed expression Naruto tried to hide but showed so strongly in his blue eyes. Staring at the shadow of her the faint street light made overhead, she began mulling over options until a voice caught her attention.

"Genma-kuuun, let's go have some fun tonight."

"You choose where we go tonight then." There was a smile in his tone.

She was scared to look up. It was a fear that even the worst mission she had been sent on didn't begin to compare. It brewed in her worst nightmares. She hated curiosity. Her head lifted and she stared at the shadowed features of the pair's faces, unable to make out specifically who they were, but the gleaming senbon was indication enough. Just that one second and her heart skipped two beats and lodged in her throat, blocking anyway to get air.

He diverted his gaze from the woman in his arm to make sure they were still going in the right direction but the onyx that stared back at him made him freeze in his steps.

"Genma-kun?" The woman raised an eyebrow at him and followed his gaze to the one looking back at them, giving an almost inaudible gasp.

_…Just get over it. It's been so long, it was bound to happen._ Riku swallowed hard and let out the long held breath while she straightened up. She adjusted her slipping backpack and resumed a more casual stroll as best as she could towards them. Her eyes never left his until she passed them at the grueling pace, a shock surging through her within such close proximities.

_Get over it._

_

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__A/N: uh...I don't have much to say...R&R please?_


	9. Bones

_Wow, I haven't gotten back to this is...wow. XD  


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The hollow knocking of the front door chipped away at the concentration Kakashi had on the ancient garage sale TV in front of him and he sighed. "Did he forget his keys again…?" He helped himself onto his feet with the aid of the low table and straightened his kimono on the way. The deadbolt unlocked with some difficulty from the rust and the door was finally wrenched open to reveal a worn smile. He gasped out a quiet, "Riku?!"

"Hey Kakashi, long time no see." She grinned, though the heavier than usual breathing didn't make it look any better than the previous smile. With a light hug around his waist, she was ushered into the small sitting room where the volume of the TV was so low it was hardly audible. She plopped down on the shabby tatami floor and stared absentmindedly at the screen while the sound of boiling water intruded on an infomercial. A light tap drew her attention to the light green ceramic cup filled with steaming tea, a similar blue one in Kakashi's possession.

He watched her for a few moments, curious at her quietness and sighed when her gaze left the tea and returned to the infomercial. "What's wrong?"

A shock went through Riku's spine and her eyes darted to the rarely unmasked man, looking at him in surprise as if he just popped out of thin air. "Nothing."

His eyebrow arched high and he set his cup down lightly, continuing to look at her thoughtfully. "You're lying."

"How do you know I am?" Her eyes narrowed while her mouth thinned into a line.

"Because you ignored your tea."

"W-what…?" Wrinkles formed between her eyebrows in confusion by his strange explanation.

"You tend to ignore your tea when you're upset."

"I don't have that weird of a habit…do I?" She stared down at her tea, noticing the steam was already greatly reduced, and sighed.

"What's on your mind?"

"Traitors."

"What would make you think about that?"

Kakashi watched her fingers fidget with her ring and regretted asking that as he let out the breath he had been holding. Suddenly she stood up and launched the band against the wall where it began descent off the wall and off the shelf. It chimed with each platform it landed on, finally rolling on the tatami floor.  
_  
'I'll never do anything to hurt you.'_

'Don't promise something you know you can't keep.'

'…Then I promise to try.'

"YOU ASSHOLE!!!" Riku yelled in the general area she had chucked the ring, letting out all the pressure in her chest. Tears rolled down her cheeks and her knees gave away, her weight bringing her down heavily. Her teeth were gritted to the point of shattering as her arms wrapped around herself and her head bowed down.

Kakashi slowly made his way over, gently pulling her into his chest for her to cry it all out.

--|--

'_Take him back…or I'll never say 'I do'.'_

"Hey! Do you want breakfast!?"'

Riku slowly opened her eyes, feeling a little sting from the sunlight that managed to stream through the closed blinds. She blinked until the pain went away and sat up, scanning her surroundings…Oh right, she had slept in Kakashi's room while he moved out to the sitting room to give her some privacy. A yawn dragged on as she stretched out her arms, sighing with content at the relief it brought her joints. Smelling the food, she hopped onto her feet and began folding up her bedding.

Outside in the kitchen, Kakashi tossed scrambled eggs right out of the pan with a powerful swing over his shoulder. They sailed across the room and were greeted by a white plate with a _splat_.

"Dad! You know they get cold throw them like that!" Daisuke stared down at the cool, just made eggs with a pout but shoveled them into his mouth anyway, regardless of how disgusting they felt. "So, who was the person that stayed over last night?"

"Speaking of last night, you were supposed to be home by two AM."

"Well…we had finished the late night movie…but then there was another one…and no one was looking…so we kinda just…snuck in."

It was an interesting sight, two guys clad in matching pink pajamas. This was the sad result of little money, huge sale, and getting there late. They had tried to make them 'manlier' by removing the lace and frills and cuffs. Actually, they took off the sleeves altogether and made tank tops out of them while the bottoms were cut into shorts. Ah, fashion.

Riku stuffed her folded futon into an empty space in the closet and grabbed her toiletries. She opened the door just a crack, seeing Daisuke's head turned away from her, and dashed to the bathroom in three strides.

The sound of a door closing jolted Daisuke and he spun in his chair, hoping to catch a glimpse of the unknown guest, but was disappointed to see nothing. "Man…that's fast."

Kakashi chuckled and shook his head, cracking a few more eggs into the pan. He figured two eggs wouldn't suffice for three days worth of traveling and threw in the rest of the eggs, bacon, and anything else that could be considered breakfast, including rice.

"Dad…are you trying to kill the person?"

"I think they're tough enough to handle something like this."

Right on cue, the bathroom door unlocked with a click and the quiet padding of barefeet against tatami approached Daisuke in a few steps. "Kakashi, do you cook this kind of gruel for him every day?" She smacked her hand forcibly upon the Chuunin's spiked hair and leaned against it a little.

The boy gazed up at her with wide eyes that were filled with doubt but instantly shined clearly when he saw the grin he had been waiting four years for. "Sensei…?!"

"Hey, Squirt."

Hearing that made him laugh and throw his arms around her middle in a tight hug.

"You haven't gotten any taller, have you?" She spoke in a playful voice, seeing quite clearly that he was _almost_ as tall as her. This really wasn't saying much for him since she was about 5'6" without her geta on.

"Yes, I have! You properly just grew taller as well…even though a woman your age shouldn't be growing any way but sideways…" Daisuke muttered the latter half, but seeing as he was right next to her, it was no surprise that she head. The grip she had around him quickly tightened until his face flushed red and his voice started breaking from lack of air

"I'm still as young as everyone around, got it?"

"Y-yes…"

She released her death hug and watched him plop down onto cushion he had sat upon, panting.

Kakashi laughed while he scooped his mess of food into a big bowl and tossed it to Riku who expertly caught it, along with the spoon that followed.

She sat down on the cushion at the table across from Daisuke and used the silver to sift through the contents, examining the strange mix. She shrugged her shoulders and stuffed a mouthful, tasting it curiously and gave another shrug of ok-ness. It was true: food does taste better when you're hungry. She never liked sitting in the proper way: on her knees, and spread her legs out underneath the table. Something small touched her lightly and her leg recoiled from the ticklish feel as she bent down and squinted, seeing the small silver ring she had discarded the night before.

"Hey, Sensei, how about we spar later? I bet I could beat you now." Daisuke leaned into the table a little more, his grin widening in anticipation.

"First of all, you need another few years of training before you can come close to beating me, second of all…I don't really feel that well today, how 'bout another day?" Riku gave him an apologetic smile with the corners of her eyebrows sinking. She felt bad when she saw his grin vanish at once and looked down at her nearly empty bowl, her hand slipping into her pocket momentarily.

"Daisuke, go start your morning training. I need to speak to her alone." Kakashi said in a very strict tone. Something he rarely used against Daisuke.

Without another word, Daisuke got up from the table and walked out with his sandals in hand.

Kakashi untied the strings to his greasy, formally-white apron and tossed it onto the counter, never taking his eyes off the woman. "What did you do?" There were too many things that preoccupied him yesterday, but today with the relaxed atmosphere, he suddenly noticed something off about her. She didn't say anything. He watched her chew the last mouthful of her breakfast and knowing he wasn't getting an answer anytime soon, went into his bedroom. Through the door, the muffled sounds of the opening and closing of drawers came through.

Riku listened to the only sound interrupting the morning silence, slowly standing and taking her bowl and spoon to the kitchen area. "So many problems…every time I come back to K-" A miniscule crack pierced in her ear, causing her to instinctively scan her surroundings. A moment later, another crack, and another. "The heck…?" Right at the next one, a searing pain shot through her abdomen on the left side and she dropped her bowl. The glass exploded on the tile at her feet and a deafening shatter shot through the apartment. "Why…does it happen now…?" She leaned against the edge of the counter with one hand keeping her steady, the other clutching at her side. Her breathing came in short, the pain multiplying with each breath. With each gasp, less air came in and more pain burned at her insides until she toppled backwards. Though she was thinking about the hurting, the back of her mind was worrying about her head smashing into the field of glass, though an unexpected pair of arms softened her landing and cradled her.

"What's wrong?!" Kakashi, now fully dressed with his headband and mask, was showing his panic through his revealed eye at full blast. "Forget it! I'm taking you to the hospital!" He lifted her up bridal style and dashed out the open balcony into the village.

"Damnit…don't take…me there." Riku muttered; her breathing so shallow it didn't look like she was at all. Her cheeks were flushed red and a thin film of sweat was condensing on her forehead.

"Are you kidding me?! I'm not going to just leave you like this!"

"Kaka…" She let out a pained whimper and the grip she had on her tank top tightened, her knuckles going white.

He breezed in through the front doors of the Konoha hospital, grabbing the attention of every person in the lobby. His eye immediately shot to a pink-haired woman clad in a white lab coat with a red circle on the back. "Sakura!"

"Kakashi-sensei? What happened?" The medic-nin spun around, nearly dropping the clipboard in her hands stacked with charts and forms. She gasped at the sight of the suffering woman in his arms and instantly recognized her. "Sempai…!" Instantly, she went into serious mode and pointed to a group of nurses coming down the hall. "You, get Tsunade-sama here, now! The rest of you, get her into a room!"

---

The tense air hung heavily on everyone in the room; Kakashi, Sakura, Shizune, and even Genma got wind of the situation, stood in the back corner. The always youthful Tsunade hovered over the half-aware Riku on the bed, her finger probing in seemingly random places on the body. As she straightened, everyone became stiff and watched the blond for the final verdict. The Sannin stood there with her arms crossed for what felt like forever, thinking.

"What's wrong with her?!" Genma squeezed his way through the people and stared at former Hokage, his teeth clenched.

"Genma, calm down." Tsunade let her arms fall to her sides and turned to face the group. "She has four damaged ribs. Three fractured, the fourth broken at Kakashi's and splinting. One of the pieces punctured her right lung. She's not in immediate danger, but it will get worse if we don't fix it, so we have some time."

"What would cause something like that so suddenly?" Sakura was as worried as everyone else, but her academic habits couldn't help but be very curious at the situation.

Tsunade hooked a finger at the hem of Riku's tanktop and pulled it up just enough for them to see some of two rings on her stomach. "Her chakra is completely sealed in and the pressure that's building up is breaking her bones."  


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_I'm sorry if this quality is off...I wrote this a long time ago and sorry, but I don't have time to rewrite it XP But from here on will be completely updated writing style, etc. Yay for vocab!_


	10. Ring

_Warning: There is a lemony part near the end, which I will clearly mark, so, ya know...ya don't like it, don't read it. Plus, it's my first lemon cuz SOMEONE -coughNeverLookBackSamuraicough- made me write it for her own fun. It won't affect the story whether you read it or not.  
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"Why haven't you healed her yet!?" The jounin nearly pounced on the Sannin but was restrained by Kakashi from the back with his lightning reflexes. He struggled against the confinement and pulled forward, not getting very far.

"Gen…ma…" Riku turned her head to the side, watching him fight against Kakashi through the slits of her eyes. Her chest rose and fell barely an inch and at a very quick pace. Her desire to take in so much more air was overcome by the massive pain in her chest, not letting her say much at once. Weakness. She hated it. "Pl…please just…shut…up…and relax…"

He froze and his shoulders slumped, letting Kakashi pull him back and into a chair.

"It's just rules. Because she's not in immediate danger, we can't do anything without her consent…or until she becomes unconscious. Riku?" Tsunade turned back to look down at Riku who appeared to be sleeping, though she opened her eyes a little when her name was spoken. "Why?"

"I didn't…want to…get caught. If they didn't find me…they wouldn't come…here."

"So you're just going to let it kill you. How are you going protect your vow if you're dead?"

Riku barely took a breath to speak, but still winced, "Can't…you just heal me…and go on your way?"

"I have to unseal your chakra. Even if I do heal you, they're just going to break again. That pressure is only going to get stronger and eventually crush your insides."

Riku scanned the faces of the room, reluctantly lingering on Genma's for just a moment longer. "Fine…"

With a sweep of her arm behind her, everyone followed Tsunade's signal and quickly filed out of the room except for Sakura and Shizune, though they all hung as close to the door as possible. Stringing a series of hand signs together, blue flames of chakra flared from her fingertips and with a cleansing breath, thrust her hand onto the outer ring of black.

The air was knocked out of her with a horrible pain exploding in her ribs, accompanied by a yell of agony held in for four years.

The sound sent shivers through the people's spines, raising goose bumps and the hair on the back of their necks. As the chakra flames extinguished, they all felt an intense pressure press on them from above, strong enough that they couldn't inhale for that second. The only one that appeared to be fine was Tsunade.

"Phew…that's some pressure you've been holding in. No wonder your bones were snapping." The blonde's hands flamed once more with a nice light green and hovered half an inch above her patient's body, skillfully re-piecing her ribs and speeding up the process for the lung with as little pain as possible, enough that she'll be able to breathe normally. Unfortunately for Riku and the others, the process ended up taking two hours.

"Alright, a few days of rest, or since it _is _you, non-aggressive activity, and you should be good as new. I set the bones and healed those most of the way, and your lung is pretty good for the meantime. It'll heal on its own in the next few hours or so." Tsunade ordered on her way out the door, "Kakashi, please come with me and sign some papers for her. Sakura and the rest of you go back to work."

"I'll see you later, sempai." Sakura held the door for the Sannin, closing it when the other nurses had filed out as well.  
Kakashi and Tsunade headed down the hall towards the main lobby side by side, the hospital unusually quiet now that the matter was settled. "So what do you need signed?"

"Nothing, I lied."

The desire…no, more like a _need_…for her to just look at him was burning at his insides. Genma held this want in quietly, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed casually. His eyes bore a hole in her profile and watched her stare out the window to her right. He was close to yelling out his excuses and reasons, anything to explain the awkward situation that might possibly have destroyed everything with her up till now, but his wish came true when her gaze fell upon him, though he dreadfully regretted it. All he saw was hurt, confusion, maybe some underlying hate. Everything he saw last night on the street. Everything he had promised to never cause. He reluctantly glanced away, something he probably shouldn't have done, and put his hand on the door handle. "…I'll go get you something to drink…"

He scanned through the two rows of lit up drinks in the machine while he inserted a few coins, stopping to press the button for a tall bottle of tea. He repeated and retrieved the two bottles from the slot at the bottom, leaning against the machine for a moment with a sigh. His hands knocked the containers together a few times as he sifted through his muddled thoughts and a groan set deep in his throat, the angry voice in him scolding and mocking. With a knock on the lighted face of the machine, Genma pushed off and slowly headed down the hall towards the room. Several nurses passed by, giving him some interesting looks that easily went unnoticed from his preoccupied attention. The only person that budged his concentration was, of course, a girl, but as he looked up, his mouth turned down into a sharp frown, his eyes narrowing at the sight of Mai. "What are you doing here?"

Mai winced at the menacing tone and fiddled with the ties on the end of the white scarf she wore most of the time. "I-I just came to see if you were alright…" She said in a low voice, much quieter than that of the man she now faced.

"I don't really need this right now." Genma said in a strained, forced under control voice, knowing that getting mad at the woman before him now wasn't going to help anything. "Just…just don't worry and I'll…call you later, ok?" He nodded when she did and watched her leave before continuing down the hall back to the room.

He laid his hand on the door handle, more hesitant than he was comfortable with, and sucked in a breath as he entered the room. The first thing that caught his attention was the light, cool breeze blowing against his face and then half the sheets hanging off the bed. His feet acted on instinct to rush in and took a quick scan around him, urgency rising at lightning speed. Out of his throat escaped a groan and he pitched one of the bottles against the wall, loud clanks boomed with everything it fell upon, eventually rolling off the edge of the side table. Following right after it was a very light tink and it took his attention away from the situation at hand for a moment, his eyes trying to make out a small object the sun was reflecting off of. Picking it up, he stared at it with his eyebrows knitted together and finally pocketed the silver ring in his chuunin vest with a sigh. No matter the reason for it, he leapt out the window just the same, hoping she wasn't too far with such injuries.

_Huff…huff…huff…_ Riku never did listen to Tsunade's advice, especially not of 'non-aggressive activities' kind and she wasn't going to start now. She faltered on the circular roof of the ninja academy in front of Hokage Rock, the young genin-to-be hardly into their first class of the day. With her hand against the railing, she bent over with her other arm curled loosely around her rib cage, feeling the dull pain that had kept prodding at her on her way from the hospital. "This…is pathetic…" She muttered and tried to catch her breath as her vision slowly blurred in and out of focus, then…nothing.

…_Riku…?_

---|---

There was one sense she relied on the most when she woke up, which she assumed most people did as well: Smell. She didn't know where she was, though the faint scent that hung in the air and the warmth that wrapped her body brought memories back. It was the mix of soap, shampoo, and of the one person she knew so well. At least she thought she did. The quiet, muffled sound of the shower water pounding against the ceramic tub crept out from underneath the door and Riku slowly opened her eyes, taking in the room lit dimly by a small light from behind her. It cast a large shadow of her against the wall she faced with a large window closed off by white mesh curtains. Apparently, it was nighttime from the looks of it…__

I was out all day… With a sigh, she brought up a hand from underneath the comforter and rubbed her temple, frustrated with where she was. Suddenly, the shower turned off, some rustling, and then the bathroom light flushed the far side of the room and the steam poured out the top of the door. She froze as she listened to the footsteps pad over on the wooden floor and her half-opened eyes stared straight into the eyes of the man she didn't want to talk to at the moment when he crouched down to her eye level.

The two stayed like that for a few seconds until he spoke up with a calm, low voice. "Are you feeling alright?"

She narrowed her eyes a little, her mind having an amusing thought in the midst of all this conflict, _Ah, still comes out the shower without a shirt on, eh? _She shook off the thought and without warning, slipped out from under the comforter and off the other side of the bed as fast as she could with her lack of strength.

He quickly stood up and rounded the large furniture to the door where she was already pulling at the door, his hand closing it once more through reflexes. He held his hand there with her between him and the door, her back to him.

Riku's hand slid off the doorknob and stood there in silence until he said in the same low voice, "What do you want me to say?"

"An answer. Genma, I'm sick of all this. I'm tired of all these ups and downs..." Riku turned around and looked up at him with her eyebrows knitted, "I know it was my fault for not coming back but…" She sighing, getting the churning feeling of being backed into a corner.

"What do you want from me? I will beg for forgiveness right now if that's what you want, I will get down on my _knees_…" He said, desperation set deep in his eyes.

Riku clenched her teeth and put her hands on either side of her head, hunching over and feeling more cornered than ever before. Like a rabbit and fox. "Please…stop it…"

"Riku, please, tell me what I need to do!" Genma asked with an immense amount of strain in such a low whisper. He put his other hand up against the door with his fingers pressed so hard it appeared as if they could dig straight into the protected wood.

"Genma!" She shot out and slowly released the clutch she had on her head, looking up at the same speed to see a surprised, but very stressed face. Quickly, she pushed him back away from her, but not without feeling a strange sensation at the tip of her fingers during the split second they touched his skin. She let her head fall back onto the door and took a deep breath, taking in the extra space she had now. "I promised you I would come back that day in the hideout, didn't I? You didn't believe me?"

"Of _course _I believed it! I'm sorry! But Riku, I waited for you at that front gate for _two_ years! I just wanted to stop worrying for a little bit and take a break, ok?! I swear to god, I never did _anything_ with those women; I wouldn't even forgive myself if I did! Please, you need to believe me."

She continued to stare up at the ceiling past the top of his head, feeling tears welling up in her closed eyes. Her hand slid out from behind her and the door was slowly pulled open. Without a backwards glance she vanished behind it with the click of the latch as it shut.

He ran both his hands through his hair and sighed, resting his forehead on the wood panel. With a strong jerk, he opened the door once more, despite the overly-tortured hinges, and was about to run out the apartment to sort all this out when lips suddenly joined with his, arms wrapping around his neck. His hand cupped around her neck and cheek, deepening the kiss, never wanting to let go.

In a matter of seconds, woman's cargo pants and tank top were flung to the floor carelessly as Genma hitched Riku's legs around his waist, her back pushed against the wall, the kiss only broken when they ran out of air. By the time they really did separate without going straight back to it, they were both on the bed with her on top, something she always prefers. "This is gonna be some sweet payback." With that said, she made her way down his body, placing kisses over his chest and abs as she undid the button of his pants. She smiled and captured the silver zipper in between her teeth, slowly pulling it down at a mean pace. She could see the frustration of being teased in his expression and smiled even more around his zipper.

[w a r n i n g : l e m o n]

---  
If only payback went her way. As usual, Genma ended up putting her into submission so easily, her body now being tortured how he saw fit. He had two fingers in her mouth, feeling the stickiness of his first release of the night, holding her still on the bed while he stared into her lust-filled eyes and his other hand went to work, fast. "And what were you saying about payback?" He smiled at her needing moans as he played with her nipple, the other one getting similar service from his teeth. When the two were at their peaks, he freed both his hands and lowered to look straight at her core, his tongue running along her moist folds. Her legs instinctively tried to close, but his hands on either of her inner thighs locked them apart. Giving up, she rode the waves of pleasure with every sharp breath she took, only to let them out in a drawn out groan when his tongue pushed further into the cavern of heat.

---  
Riku couldn't help but grip either side of the pillow she rested on as her back lifted just a little off the sheets, her hips rocking against him to feel his manhood thrust deeper and deeper every time, bringing her closer to the edge. Her hands let go of the pillow and hung onto his back, crying out her moans into his shoulder as he hit the right spot with each plunge. By now, she was almost tipping over the edge, and by the sounds coming from him, he was as well. "Ah…I…I can't hold on anymore…" At that moment, pleasure washed over her in an orgasm. As her inner walls tightened around his cock, he released his hot seed into her and gently lowered her back onto the bed as he pulled out of her. The sound of their heavy breathing resounded as a duet through the now silent room, followed by the creak of the bed when he lay down next to her and pulled her into his arms. He gave her a kiss on the forehead and covered them with the sheets. "So you forgive me?"  
Riku smiled with her eyes closed, giving him a kiss on his chest. "We'll talk in the morning."

* * *

_There ya go, my sad attempt at a lemon....  
_


	11. Reunion

_Haven't written here in a while...Uh...yeah._

* * *

A tired groan escaped his throat as Genma turned over on the bed and away from the sunlight. His hand plopped down on the other half of the mattress, expecting the smooth skin of a woman, though all he felt was cold cotton. He groggily let out a "huh?" and slowly opened his eyes, widening them when his memories of last night came back in a huge hit. Feeling his heart speed up ten times as fast in the matter of two seconds, he bolted up so fast stars began flashing before him from the head rush. As his vision cleared, he took in the familiar scent of soap and turned to the right a little, seeing the bathroom door half open. He took a deep breath and calmed down a little, climbing out of bed to slip into some black pants. He slowly tiptoed over and pushed the door open quietly.

Inside, the orange tinted lights illuminated the hazy atmosphere of steam from the bathtub in the far end of the room, the length parallel to the side wall. Clothes were neatly folded on the counter by the sink while slender shoulders leaned against the end of the tub, her back facing the door. He continued his tiptoeing as he made his way in, crouching down behind her as quietly as he could, though he knew she already sensed him, and placed a kiss at the crook of her neck, right next to the sealed rose. "Good morning, Riku."

"Morning, Genma. Though who said you could come in when a lady is in the bath?" She said, a smile clear in her tone.

"Well, the door was open, that's permission enough for me." He said, his eyes scanning the small amount of her back that was visible to him over the bathtub and bubbles, noticing all the small, faint scars that covered her skin and through her tattooed wings, though the one that caught his eye the most was a much thicker, more prominent scar that ran from the top of her shoulder down and into the water. Not realizing he was doing it, his thumb lightly ran down the length of a quarter of the scar, a little sad that it went straight through her right tattoo. He could feel her skin twitch underneath his touch as he did so and slowly wrapped his arms around her shoulders. "Unless you want me to leave."

"Well, isn't the answer obvious?" Riku leaned her head back to rest on his shoulder and stared up at the ceiling. "You wanna know what happened with the Akatsuki, don't you?" She listened to his silence, taking that as a 'yes' and continued. "I should've died there. Not in a suicidal way, but if it wasn't for the Houkou, I really would've died. When you guys left, they expected me to talk, but I managed to stay silent for a few more days and endure all that shit they put me through."

She waited a few seconds in case Genma wanted to stick in his own words but when there was just silence, she continued. "I guess…Pain just got sick of it. Sick enough to actually get out of his chair and…"

_He gazed down at her battered face, despising the determination still so strong in her eyes and picked her up by the neck from her kneeled position." You need to talk before you regret it." Pain narrowed his Rinnegan from irritation and suddenly, his hand had found its way through the center of her torso right beneath the rib cage. Hot blood poured out from the wound around his arm and dripped onto the already stained ground. Tossing her body aside, he shook his hand to get the excess blood off his hand and watched her writhing figure as a pool spread out from the hole he had made.  
Riku gasped for air as she felt her life slowly slipping away from her along with her vision. 'I…I can't die…' She thought, not feeling much of the pain anymore with everything numbing._

'Has the time come?' The velvet voice echoed through her mind.

'Do I have any choice?' She thought reluctantly.

At that moment, a white light engulfed her body and slowly formed into the silhouette of a graceful dog above her back, its eyes slits of red…

"…and then I ended up a few miles away in the forest."

"I should've been there…"

She pulled at his arms and loosened them a little for her to turn around in them and still stay in the water enough to cover most of her chest. "If you were, I couldn't do this…" She placed her hands on either side of his face and gave him a simple, yet passionate kiss. As she pulled away, a small smile pulled at her lips, "Now that you got your morning greeting, get out."

"Aw, you really wanted me to leave?" He stuck out his lower lip with puppy eyes.

"In case you haven't noticed…I'm still taking my bath."

"I could always wash your back…"

"Get out."

"Come on, like before…" He flashed the same grin that always melted her heart.

She smiled and pushed his forehead with her index finger. "Out."

Riku sighed and sunk into the soapy water to her chin, her eyes closed to enjoy the relaxing warmth she sat in. Something in the back of her mind told her this was all wrong. It told her she never should've come back at all. It told her…she should be dead.

_There's a nice morning thought._

After a while of listening to her morbid conscience, she finally climbed out of the tub and dried herself off with one of the two navy towels hanging on the back of the door. With the towel wrapped around her chest, her folded clothes in her hand, she stepped out of the bathroom and rounded the corner into the indent in the bedroom that held his drawers. As she did, she saw Genma lying on the bed with his hands behind his head, a big smile stretched across his face. Riku crossed her arms with her eyebrow arched. "Enjoying the view?"

"I am if you are."

She rolled her eyes with a smile almost as big as his, taking in his shirtless form, and began opening up his drawers. "Mind if I borrow some things to wear?"  
He let out a deep sigh. "I prefer the outfit you're wearing, but go ahead."

"Stop acting like a pervert." She fished out an old pair of black pants and smaller t-shirt that looked like it hadn't been worn in a while, her smile not fading.

As Riku and Genma stood around the kitchen island, drinking tea and orange juice, respectively, the dull doorbell echoed through the small apartment.

"Ah, shit, I forgot she was showing up this morning!" Genma went over to the door, not bothering to go put on the shirt, that one article of clothing he seemed to hate wearing today. He reached for the knob but was stopped by a fully dressed Riku with a hand pushing him back.

"Allow me." She opened the door at an agonizing pace for him and expected surprise then anger and tears but instead just saw a familiar grin. "K-Kyoko?"

"Hey, m-!" The woman's greeting was abruptly cut off by a clothesline to the neck. She was pushed back by Riku out into the hall and took a big step back to regain her balance, sucking in a big breath of air along with a cough.

Riku shut the door behind her quickly before Genma could even react to the situation and held the doorknob so he couldn't open it again. "What are you doing here?" She asked in a frantic whisper.

Kyoko cleared her throat and straightened, crossing her arms. "I saw you were back and came to see you, but I wasn't expecting the attempt to decapitate me with your elbow."

"Sorry…but more importantly, _you're _the one going out with Genma?"

"No, no, don't worry. I was just doing that to find you."

"Did ya…do anything with him…?"

"No! I know he's yours so I made sure not to go there."

Riku let out a sigh of relief and put a hand over her heart, taking a few breaths to slow it down.

Kyoko tilted her head a little with confusion and curiosity, "Possessive much…?"

Riku started slowly, "Well…I'm pretty sure if you did anything with him, he could get arrested…"

* * *

_Sorry if this sucks balls. I wrote this two years ago..._


	12. Detection

_Hello~Well, this is the first time in about two years that I've written a chapter and it turns out to be more a filler...Just to explain some back story I guess. For the full back story, follow the two other stories I have out that I will be updating alongside this one. ^^_

* * *

_Arrested?_ Genma had his ear plastered to the door, determined to hear what those two were talking about. It was his ex-, but now returned, girlfriend, and the girl he had been going out with for the past few months, of course he was worried! Was Riku going to kill her? That clothesline looked like it was just the beginning of a possible maiming. He tried the doorknob again, as if the twelfth time would magically let the door swing open, and to his surprise…It still didn't open. Of course not. _Please don't kill her…Please don't kill her…_

Kyoko raised an eyebrow at Riku and glanced at the door momentarily when she heard the clacking of the knob not turning. "Seriously, I didn't do anything. Why the face?" She watched the white-haired jonin's face carefully, realizing she had spaced out a little and was staring at the floor. "Hello?" Kyoko's voice dropped even lower now, "Mom, are you okay…?"

Riku's head snapped up when she was called that and hesitantly looked over her shoulder at the door she had been guarding. It was silent on the other end; not even her trained ears could hear his breathing. "Shinobi hear everything, Kyoko, don't forget that…" She simply sighed and slowly opened the apartment door to see Genma standing there with a hard gaze.

His tone came out shockingly light, calm, but something else…something unsettling, "So…Is this…the same as what happened to Katsuki?" He noticed her expression change from sheepish and nervous to shocked and hurt, but only in her eyes. It was still Riku, after all.

"I…I would never do that to you…How could you even think tha-"

"So whose is she?"

"She…" Riku's eyes darted between Kyoko and Genma a few times, still debating whether or not to tell him despite half the secret already out on the table. Well, if he leaves her for this…She can't really blame him…"She…She's yours."

Silence. Dead silence. They all stood still, frozen in time as her word's tried to get through to both Genma and his so-called daughter.

"So…He's my dad?" Kyoko put her chin on Riku's shoulder to look over it and at the very wide-eyed man in the apartment. They expected some sort of response, maybe a nod, or even yelling, but all he did was quietly shut the door.

"So you moved into my old apartment?"

"Yeah, it happened to be vacant when I moved out. Plus, it's so cheap for its size." Kyoko unlocked the door and swung it open before stepping to the side to let Riku in first.

The jinchuuriki scanned the place with a small smile as the feeling of nostalgia washed over her. The furniture and appliances matched well together and there was a warm atmosphere to it all, except for the clothes and junk strewn all over it. "Very…ladylike apartment…"

"Well…I haven't had the motivation to clean…" Kyoko answered sheepishly as she pulled off her boots. "Now that _she's_ not around to nag me, I'm living free."

"You might not have liked her, but Haruka-sama did raise you."

"But she wasn't my mom. Plus, why do you call her with 'sama' anyway? You could probably kick her ass twice before she could blink."

Riku sat down on the couch, after shoving stacks of books to the side, and let out a quiet sigh. "I made a deal with her, even if she is the devil. Besides, I didn't even hold up my end of the bargain completely."

"How so?"

"I kept going to see you."

Kyoko set her things down on the floor and plopped down next the only woman she had ever really considered her mother. Sure, before she found out who Riku really was, Haruka Aiko, she called her "mommy", but after that? She grew closer to Riku, much more than she ever did with the other woman.

"Haruka-sama loved you to bits though, you know."

"Yeah, right."

"She did, really."

"Uh huh…Anyway, did I…ruin things for you and Genma at all…?"

Riku put her arm over Kyoko's shoulders and pulled her in for a half hug, speaking softly, "Of course not. Whatever happens, we'll work it out."

* * *

"We've finally located the five-tailed beast."

Pein shifted a bored gaze over at the projections of the "zombie" team and sat up just a tad more at the news. "I see. Retrieve that woman immediately. I do not want any more delays in extracting the Houkou."

Hidan and Kakuzu came out of their meditation and the former picked up his large three bladed scythe. "He's a little bitch, isn't he?"

Kakuzu completely ignored his partner and stood up from the rock he had been perched upon. The duo was currently a couple of miles off from the border of Konohagakure, far from anyone's range of detection, but when the Houkou's chakra was released, it probably wouldn't have mattered how far they were. The two couldn't help but be a little amazed at the power.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go kill her."

"We're not killing her, Hidan. We have to bring her back alive, or did your ridiculous God decide to change that?"

"Don't go insulting Jashin, you fucker."

* * *

Kakuzu thought about killing the immortal man but for once, he kept his temper under control. With the upcoming battle, he didn't want to waste any energy on such trivial matters.

_Clink_. The sound of the ceramic tea cup being set on the table ended up much louder than Riku had expected. It didn't help that it was almost two in the morning and the whole town had gone to sleep. She leaned back in the chair she had dragged out onto the balcony and turned her head over to the left, feeling the dull, deep set ache Katsuki had left her with. Kyoko had gone through the trouble of setting up a makeshift futon for her and gone to bed, expecting the jonin to use it but she couldn't. Now that she was back, everything was thrown back into her face.

Destroying whatever she had salvaged with Genma didn't help either.

"I shouldn't have told him…Stupid, stupid…"

Riku put her feet up on the railing and sipped her tea absentmindedly. She felt exposed, vulnerable, with no seal to stop the Houkou's chakra and her lack of weapons, and wondered when the Akatsuki was going to show up. It was only a matter of time.

* * *

_Tad short...It was filler! _


End file.
